The Tsar Bomba, the most powerful nuclear bomb ever tested, had a yield of 50 megatons but theoretically had a maximum yield of how much?

The story behind the answer

Although the Tsar Bomba’s test yield was 50 megatons, it was designed for about 100 megatons. For the 1961 test, Soviet engineers replaced a uranium tamper with lead, cutting fast fission in the outer stage and halving the blast to limit fallout and shock damage. With a uranium tamper, the device would have reached its intended 100 MT maximum.

Detonated over Novaya Zemlya, it produced the largest human-made explosion, a mushroom cloud about 60 km high, and shockwaves that circled the Earth. Memory tip: Tsar -> think Czar ruling a century (100), so the bomb’s theoretical top was 100 MT, while the test was only half.