The higher the altitude a nuke is detonated, the less the radioactive fallout. "Fallout" is what falls out of the sky after a detonation. So if a nuke detonated upon ground contact, then the amount of radioactive fallout would be great. But if detonated above a city or higher, the radioactive fallout would be lessened. Hiroshima for example, was an aerial detonated bomb, hence low level and short term exposure radioactivity
https://youtu.be/e3RRycSmd5A?si=W1CltQI4koZoVO4o
Partially true.
Even with an airburst here is still fallout that is easily inhaled from the air or ingested in foods contaminated by what "falls out"on the ground. Even with an airburst, there are still significant persistent (long half-life") radionuclides, some of which are "bone-seekers." Those radionuclides are particularly pernicious because the slow turnover in bone re-modeling means the radionuclides remain in place, thereby persistently irradiating adjacent tissues. That also means that the "alpha" and "beta" emissions that are otherwise easily stopped by, for example, the outermost dead layer of skin cells we all have, there is no barrier. Hence the alpha and beta damage from heavier particles is synergistic with the more highly penetrating gamma emissions. I would call it a "triple whammy" to lung, bone, and gut.
Topic: Would God allow nuclear war? (Read 3828 times)