What does the doomsday clock do?

Question

i know what it looks like. i just dont know what it means. something about war and then we all die or something like that. idk. could you explain it to me? please dont use big words:) thanks

Answer 1

It purports to show how close we are to destroying civilization with nuclear war.   It is a relic of the Cold War. It was more of a measure of tension between the U.S. and Soviet Union. Since the Soviet Union has dissolved, it is not very meaningful, if it ever was.

Of course, there is still a possibility of nuclear war, but if some bunch of terrorists, or some third world country like Korea or Iran exploded a bomb in the U.S., or some civilized country, it would not be likely to initiate an all out nuclear volley on the scale that was originally imagined between the U.S. and U.S.S.R.  In any case, nobody can predict a nuclear holocaust.

Answer 2

The Doomsday Clock is a perennial feature of the cover of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which has been published since 1946 or so. It shows a clock approaching midnight. The exact setting is determined by the board of editors on the basis of their estimation of the current threat of nuclear war.