What does the nuclear bomb do?

Answer 1

Without going into rigorous scientific detail, an atomic bomb works by nuclear fission. That is large atoms, namely uranium or plutonium, are split into smaller atoms in an uncontrolled chain reaction. One atom splits, neutrons from that split strike and split more atoms, which release more neutrons when they split which then split still more atoms. This releases a tremendous amount of energy all at once. Thus a single bomb, weighing no more than a few hundred or thousand pounds, explodes with the force of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of tons of TNT.

When we look at a hydrogen bomb, which is also a type of atomic bomb, we see that it works by nuclear fusion. That is small atoms, namely hydrogen, are fused together to make atoms of helium. This releases even more energy. Thus a hydrogen bomb has a force of hundreds of thousands, or even many millions of tons of TNT. Fusion requires fantastic temeratures and pressures to occur. The only way to create those conditions is to set off one or more atomic fission bombs. Essentially, a hydrogen bomb is a nuclear fusion device that requires an fission bomb as a detonator.

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