| 释义 |
megaton|ˈmɛgətʌn|
[f. mega- b + ton1.]
a. A unit of explosive power, equal to that of one million tons of T.N.T. Freq. attrib.
1952N.Y. Herald-Tribune 18 June 23/7 The first true super-bomb to be detonated is expected to have a power of two megatons. 1955Times 30 May 7/7 The Pacific tests in 1952 and 1954 showed that a hydrogen bomb equivalent to 10 to 15 million tons of T.N.T. (commonly called 10–15 megatons) dropped on the centre of an ordinary city would cause total destruction within a circle of four to five miles. 1957Oxford Mail 20 Aug. 1/5 Britain, he said, was concentrating on ballistic missiles because aircraft were unable to have 100 per cent success against an enemy equipped with megaton bombs. 1959Listener 2 Apr. 613/3 The force of each detonation is believed to have been in the kiloton rather than the megaton range. 1962Newnes Conc. Encycl. Nucl. Energy 48/1 A Bikini-type megaton bomb would destroy completely most ordinary buildings in an area of 84 square miles. 1965New Statesman 21 May 810/2 Six megatons were used in the whole of the Second World War. 1972[see magnitude 2 c].
b. fig.
1957M. Shulman Rally round Flag, Boys! (1958) vi. 74 A broth of a woman..filled with energy in the megaton range. 1963Daily Tel. 9 July 1 Another British spy scandal of ‘megaton proportions’ was forecast yesterday. 1969N. Cohn AWopBopaLooBop (1970) ix. 86 Music splintering and feet shuffling, butts twitching by the megaton.
Hence ˈmegatonnage, explosive power of nuclear weapons, as expressed in megatons.
1963Economist 23 Nov. 746/2 Nato is probably much closer to equality with the Warsaw alliance, in numbers of footsloggers as well as in nuclear megatonnage, than used to be thought. 1967Listener 9 Feb. 186/2 The Russians have not been very explicit..about doubling the megatonnage of their warheads. 1971Guardian 3 Aug. 11/5 The deliverable megatonnage of nuclear weapons. 1971Nature 24 Dec. 493/2 The Soviet Union has already substantially overtaken the United States in numbers of ICBMs, in megatonnages, and in underground tests of large nuclear devices. |