Corrected entry: Taylor states that a nuclear bomb with a Cobalt casing, when detonated, would result in Earth's atmosphere being destroyed. In reality, a Cobalt-cased nuclear bomb wouldn't be any more powerful than a normal one; the only difference would be that the fallout radiation would remain lethal for several decades, rather than a few months.
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Correction: The bomb he is referring to is a cobalt chloride bomb, sometimes called a 'cobalt salt' bomb. There is no theoretical limit on their size, and a sufficiently large one would make the Earth's entire atmosphere radioactive for 94,000 years. Effectively the air that we breathe would be a deadly poison. If that isn't 'destroying the atmosphere' I don't know what is.