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Originally Posted by cjl
Except the rock behind K/T was more like 10,000m (6 miles), making your number low by a factor of 25.
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Oops. I saw the 6 and thought, "6,000 ft."
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Oh, and Veeger, you're right about that one. An airburst nuke delivers all the energy from a hemisphere (the bottom half of the explosion) to the target, while a groundburst only delivers the energy from a narrow ring - the rest goes into the air or into the ground, and is completely wasted.
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Er... No. There are airbursts, then there are airbursts. Furthermore, shock waves do funny things while travelling horizontally over the surface of the Earth.
Essentially, there are three components to an airburst: initial wave, reflected wave, and mach wave. The mach wave always travels at the speed of sound. The initial and reflected, however, do not. They begin at many mach, then slow down below mach. The point where they meet is called the "triple point," and that point is the product of many factors.
Suffice to say that it can be calculated so that the yield and altitude of the burst can be set to maximize desired effects.