total energy and apparent bolometric magnitude So I have been given this question:


  A typical Type Ia Supernova emits $10^{44}\ \mathrm{J}$. All nuclear weapons
  tested by humans have released a total of about $2\times10^{6}\ \mathrm{TJ}$ of energy. Assume the Supernova energy is released at the distance of the Sun. Determine how close to your retina the nuclear weapons energy would have to be released to make both appear to have the same apparent bolometric magnitude. 


The issue I'm have is normally apparent magnitudes I would have to have joules per second where this is in just total joules.

So is it that with bolometric magnitude there is an automatic assumption that when total power is mention you assume joules a second?

Could someone please advise?

I would just like to point out I am not looking for a direct answer to this question, I am just confused with why total energy has been used. I have read posts on wiki which seems to confuse me even more. I have just used the above question as an example from a book.
You have been given a terrible question and your confusion is totally justified.

The magnitude system is a measure of the brightness of objects which is a measure of the energy received per unit time interval.

Without knowing a characteristic timescale over which the energy is released in each case, then it is not answerable. Note that the timescale for energy release in the case of supernovae and bombs are different by many orders of magnitude - a type Ia supernova has a bolometric light curve (e.g. see Fig.6 of Scalzo et al. 2014) that lasts 2-3 weeks, peaking at around $10^{36}$ Watts.

Given this, we can compare with the Sun's bolometric luminosity of $3.8\times 10^{26}$ Watts and apparent bolometric magnitude of -26.8, to estimate that the peak apparent bolometric magnitude of a type Ia supernova at the distance of the Sun would be -50.3.

You cannot do the same thing with nuclear explosions. They last a fraction of a second (in terms of their light output). Or are you meant to assume that you take the average flux over the 70 years that mankind has had nuclear weapons?? The question is a nonsense unless you are given some sort of timescale over which this explosive energy is released. About the only sane things you can do are (a) use ~70 years (actually, most of the energy was released during the 1950s and early 1960s) (b) use the duration of a single nuclear explosion or (c) (and I imagine what was intended) use a similar duration as for a typical type Ia supernovae so that the question should have begun - "Imagine that X and Y amounts of total energy are emitted over a similar timescale..."