For more than forty years, the threat of nuclear armageddon loomed over the world, and faded from consciousness only after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the implosion of 'Soviet Union. Although the threat of nuclear war no longer occupies the public's attention, other threats have emerged to take their place. The Cold War left a legacy in the United States, the Soviet Union, and the world. Although some might argue that the negative effects of the Cold War outweigh the positive ones, some positive and some negative aspects stem from the Cold War. Living in fear is nothing anyone wants to face. Especially when the fear is as drastic as nuclear war. Throughout the Cold War not only death, but the possibility of annihilation of the entire human race was at hand. The legacy of nuclear war left by the Cold War is a legacy that will never go away. On November 16, 1952, the United States dropped the first hydrogen bomb on a point slightly north of Runit Island. The bomb was dropped by a B-36H bomber and was thousands of times more powerful than most atomic bombs. The following year, the Soviet Union conducted the first test, and by the early 1970s, seven other nations managed to complete their own tests. There are four phases following the detonation of nuclear bombs. The first is called Flash and Fireball, and is the effect of a flash as bright as the sun and the immediate ignition of objects nearly nine miles away. Deadly pulses of X-rays are emitted about two miles away. People within about 50 miles of the bomb will be blinded if they watch the fireball proceed, and those about 6.2 miles away will be extremely burned. The next stage of the nuclear bomb is nicknamed the explosion. Occurs at the same time as Flash and Fir......center of paper......014.Takakura, Akiko, Taeko Teramae, Hiroko Fukada, Mamoru Yukihiro, Akira Onogi, Akihiro Takahashi, Isao Kita, and Hiroshi Sawachika . “This is what it feels like to be under a nuclear attack.” Interview. Gizmodo. Gizmodo, August 6, 2010. Web. May 17, 2014. Other Sources: “Steps to Exploding a Nuclear Bomb.” Fox News. FOX News Network, March 8, 2001. Web. April 27, 2014. "US Tests First Hydrogen Bomb." History.com. A&E and Web Television Networks. April 26, 2014."When We Tested Nuclear Bombs." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, May 6, 2011. Web. April 27, 2014. "November 1, 1952 | First test of the hydrogen bomb." The Learning Network November 1, 1952 Comments on the first test of the hydrogen bomb. New York Times, November 1, 2011. Web. May 27, 2014."Types of Nuclear Bombs." PBS. PBS, May 2, 2005. Web. May 26 2014.