What Would Happen if India and Pakistan go to Nuclear War?
India and Pakistan are going through a rough patch right now. Both these countries have had a troubled history with multiple wars in the past. While we don’t know what either of these countries will do next, but we do know one important fact: India and Pakistan both own dozens of nuclear warheads, for contingencies.
It’s almost sure that the current conflict will not turn into a nuclear war, but let’s take a hypothetical look at what the dire consequences of a nuclear battle in the 21st century would look like on Earth.
India has around 70 nuclear warheads, and Pakistan has around 110. A war would involve at least half of these nukes blowing off. This detonation can actually have bad effects that can affect the planet in ways we cannot imagine due to the concentrated density included in it.
Let's just state facts..
India and Pakistan, being bordering countries can result in a regional nuclear conflict that can also cause a global famine. Explosions of this magnitude will almost certainly result in massive firestorms. The immediate areas of impact will be destroyed, causing loss of life and property. These firestorms will give rise to humongous quantities of smoke particles that will populate the troposphere.
From there, these smoke particles could be dispersed to anywhere across the planet. If they make it to the stratosphere, they could become pertinent for up to 5 years. This will cause the temperature of the stratosphere to increase significantly, while it’s normally supposed to be below freezing.
A byproduct of an erratic stratosphere will be the degradation of the ozone layer. The ozone layer is instrumental in keeping the harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun away from Earth, and its degradation will hurt all forms of life. Crops will struggle to carry on photosynthesis. Oceanic plankton will die, causing an imbalance in the food chain. Humans will witness a much higher rate of skin cancer and other disorders. Considering that the area of and around the Indian subcontinent is the most densely populated place on the planet, the scale of damage will be huge.
The aquatic life will find it difficult to survive these changes in the water temperature, no longer being able to serve as food for those creatures who consume them.
The ash, smoke and soot deposited in the stratosphere will act as a hurdle for sunlight to reach the surface of the Earth, causing a nuclear winter. The temperatures will go down by up to 4-degrees Celcius throughout, which will deteriorate the green cover’s ability to thrive. The optimal seasons for the growth of food crops will be much shorter, directly affecting the yield. Analysts suggest that in its current state, even a small change in the food production capacity could send the entire chain in a toss.
The radiation spread from these nukes will render big areas inhabitable for centuries to come. The radioactivity will spread through the water into the oceans, greatly increasing the area of impact. Those that prevail, will eventually fall prey to biomagnification, breaking multiple food chains.
Essentially, the effects of a nuclear war will be far more devastating than one would imagine. The irreversible damage will ruin the planet for the following generations. It is often said that war is never the solution, and a nuclear one, will just give rise to more issues than it will solve. This nuclear aggression needs to be controlled, and countries need to be extremely careful when handling nuclear material. We have already witnessed disasters in Chernobyl and Japan, whose effects are still being experienced today.
Earth does not have the capacity to deal with another one...