The power of large bombs is typically measured in TNT equivalent.

TNT equivalent is a method of quantifying the energy released in explosions.

The predicted energy yield would be 1000 tons TNT equivalent.

The results are tabulated and expressed as TNT equivalents.

An evaluation of the explosion's force puts it at 2.9 kilotons TNT equivalent.

The yield of this first detonation was estimated to be between 17 and 41 kg TNT equivalent.

"TNT equivalent," Russ said.

The preliminary analysis are indicative of energy yield of approximately 4 kilotons of TNT equivalent.

"One hundred million tons of TNT equivalent ..." said Askold, staring at the containers.

The devices were made of weapons-grade plutonium, and had a yield reported to be between 20 and 40 kilotons of TNT equivalent.

The explosion was estimated to be about 1-2 kilotonnes TNT equivalent, and was heard as a loud bang in Munich, more than 300 km away.

The scientists working on Trinity set up a betting pool on the yield of the test, with predictions ranging from total dud to 45 kilotons of TNT equivalent (KT).

The four-pound TNT equivalent, enough explosive to blow up a car and kill people, is a widely accepted (though not specifically stated) limit of testing under the treaty to ascertain the condition of nuclear stocks.

Above 300 meters in diameter, the predicted rate is somewhat higher, with a two-kilometer asteroid (one million-megatons TNT equivalent) every couple of million years - about 10 times as often as the power-law extrapolation would predict.

The bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 (with TNT equivalents between 15 and 22 kilotons) were weaker than many of today's tactical weapons, yet they achieved the desired effect when used strategically.

Daedalus class systems use pellets of one gram or less ignited by particle or laser beams to produce very small fusion explosions with a maximum explosive yield of only 10-20 tons of TNT equivalent.

Although initial witness reports stated that the resultant fireball was equivalent to the Hiroshima nuclear explosion, scientific analysis places the force of the blast at anywhere from 100-500 tonnes TNT equivalent - around 3% of Hiroshima's yield.

The energy density of TNT is used as a reference-point for many other types of explosives, including nuclear weapons, the energy content of which is measured in kilotons ( 4.184 terajoules) or megatons ( 4.184 peta joules) of TNT equivalent.

But the Indian scientists said American confusion over the size of the biggest blast could have arisen from the fact that the Shakti-1 device was detonated in a shaft separated by 1,100 yards from a second shaft containing Shakti-2, the device with 12,000 tons of TNT equivalent.

The report says that the United States and France are each building laser fusion laboratories - at Livermore, Calif., and near Bordeaux, France - "planning to use these devices to carry out explosions of magnitudes that are greater than four pounds of TNT equivalent."