The Atomic Kid

This film is advertised on the marquee of the Hill Valley Town Theater on November 12, 1955 in Back to the Future (1985). It can briefly be seen after the DeLorean is sent back to October 26, 1985.

Prior to the test, Dr. Rodell states it was 'the most powerful weapon yet developed'. The film makers might not have been aware of this, but the most powerful device up to that time was the 'George' test of Operation Greenhouse, a boosted fission device with a yield of 225 kt, about ten times the yield of the Nagasaki bomb. Even with much lower yields, like the 15 kt of the Hiroshima bomb, it would not make sense to put up a house made of 'regular brick and shingle' at a distance of a mere 200 feet from ground zero for weapons effects testing, because no remains would be found to examine afterwards. That house would hardly be out of the fireball radius, experience more than 25 psi overpressure and wind speeds upwards of 2500 mph. It goes without saying that the detonation would not have been survivable at that range in such a structure.

Referenced in Back to the Future (1985)