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The terms atomic bomb and nuclear bomb are interchangeable as both obtain their energy from the atomic nucleus. So neither is bigger.
There are two processes to get the energy for a bomb out of the atomic nucleus:
- fission, the breaking up of large nuclei into smaller ones
- fusion, the joining of small nuclei together into larger ones.
Pure fission bombs have a practical yield limit between 500 KTons and 1 MTon because of criticality limits: too much fuel in the bomb will cause it to "predetonate" and melt before it can be delivered to a target. Fusion bombs do not have this limit: you can put as much fuel as you want to get as high a yield as you might like.
However no modern nuclear weapon is pure fission or pure fusion, the processes are mixed in a variety of ways to get the exact effects desired, in the package size desired, at the production cost desired. Therefore some fission bombs are higher yield than some fusion bombs and vice versa.
Wiki User
∙ 12y ago
Wiki User
∙ 13y agoI am not sure how to answer your question. By "bigger" do you mean physically or nuclear yield? Also I am unsure if you understand the adjective modifiers you are using on the word bomb.
- Atomic is a general modifier simply meaning "from the atom", it is popularly used to apply to fission bombs. But can equally apply to fusion bombs.
- Hydrogen is a specific modifier, always applied to fusion bombs.
- Nuclear is a general modifier simply meaning "from the nucleus", can be applied to either fission or fusion bombs.
Therefore I will use the terms fission and fusion exclusively from here on.
Traditional early fusion bombs were bigger physically and had higher yield than fission bombs. That is no longer true, a modern fusion bomb is sometime much smaller and has less yield than a modern fission bomb. It all depends on design and the purpose of the weapons.
Wiki User
∙ 14y agoi think they're the same. the atomic bomb is a type of nuclear bomb
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Where were the first nuclear bombs dropped?
A nuclear bomb has never been dropped. It was an atomic bomb that was dropped on the Japanese cities Hiroshima ans Nagasaki. An atomic bomb is a nuclear weapon. Nuclear bombs have much more impact than atomic bombs, and could potentially end the World if a nuclear war was started.
When was Nuclear warfare created?
Presumably it came part and parcel with the invention of the atomic bomb. Two atomic bombs, dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, caused Japan to surrender to the United States in World War II, and ended the war in the Pacific. To date, these remain the only times a nuclear bomb has been detonated in an attack against another country, rather than as a test.
How hot was the atomic bomb?
The heat of the atomic bomb was said to be 1,000 degrees hotter than the surface of the sun which would be 8,200 degrees Celsius. That would incinerate any life form within 3 miles and would also melt stone/concrete.
Will there ever be another atomic bomb?
The atomic bomb has been replaced by the nuclear bomb. This type of weapon was first developed by the US in the early 1950's. Soon afterwards, the Soviet Union also created their own style of nuclear weapons and bombs.
Who created the dirty bomb?
The original concept for something like what is now called a "dirty bomb" was proposed at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project before it was certain that an actual atomic bomb could be made to work. When it was clear the atomic bombs would work, the idea was shelved. As far as I know, nobody has ever actually bothered to build one. Doing so would likely be suicidal for the workers doing the assembly. Note: another unrelated usage of the term "dirty bomb" simply refers to an ordinary hydrogen bomb. This usage came into fashion about 1958 when the US was fascinated with the idea of building "clean bombs" (i.e. reduced fallout hydrogen bombs), mostly for Project Plowshare - the project to use nuclear explosives for construction, mining, and other peaceful uses - but also to try to make high yield nuclear weapons that would produce less public outcry/opposition/protests. The US perfected "clean bomb" designs having as little as 5% of the fallout of ordinary nuclear explosives of the same yield and the USSR did even better than that. "clean bomb" designs have been generally abandoned.
Where were the first nuclear bombs dropped?
A nuclear bomb has never been dropped. It was an atomic bomb that was dropped on the Japanese cities Hiroshima ans Nagasaki. An atomic bomb is a nuclear weapon. Nuclear bombs have much more impact than atomic bombs, and could potentially end the World if a nuclear war was started.
Does water affect the atomic bomb?
yes Because they made a nuclear device inside it and if it touched waer i evaporates and blows up bigger than its explosion.
What is the nuclear weapon greater than the atomic bomb?
They are both the same thing.
Is an atomic bomb or a nuclear bomb more powerful?
The terms "atomic bomb" and "nuclear bomb" are general terms and can pretty much be used interchangeably. That said, there isn't any difference between them, and one is not more powerful than the other in that light.
Is the atom bomb and a nuke the same?
No, an atomic bomb uses fission, but a nuclear or thermonuclear bomb combines fission and nuclear fusion. Therefore, a nuke is more powerful than an atom bomb.
Maximam dengrus bomb between nuclear bomb or hydrogen bomb?
If you are asking which has the maximum danger, a hydrogen bomb is one type of nuclear bomb. In general, nuclear bombs can be fission (called atomic) or fusion (hydrogen) A fusion bomb is larger than an fission bomb, and actually uses a fission bomb to start the fusion reaction.
Why does an atomic bomb release more energy than a conventional chemical bomb?
An atomic bomb releases more energy than a conventional chemical bomb because the atomic bomb releases binding, or Nuclear Strong Force, energy while the conventional bomb releases chemical energy, and there is far more binding energy (hundreds and thousands of times) than there is chemical energy from the same mass of material.
Why was the end of the war at pearl harbor a bigger issue than the atomic bomb?
The attack at Pearl was the start of the war, not the end. The end came 4 years later with the atomic bomb.
What is more powerful a tornado or nuclear bomb?
An atomic bomb has more destructive potential, but a large, long-lived tornado would probably release more energy than a small nuclear weapon.
What was the bomb 1000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb?
The bomb that was 1000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb is often referred to as the Tsar Bomba. It was a hydrogen bomb developed by the Soviet Union and tested on October 30, 1961. The Tsar Bomba had a yield of approximately 50 megatons, making it the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated.
Why did radiation occur after the atomic bomb hit Japan?
The atomic bombs are nuclear weapons that use a nuclear chain reaction to create a Hugh explosion. The by-product of the nuclear blast is radiation.Atomic explosion is created by setting off a lot of dynamite around a core of nuclear material. The blast compresses the material together and makes it unstable.A hydrogen bomb is a much more powerful bomb. It is the result of a small nuclear explosion that compresses more powerful radioactive material together and thus creating an explosion that is 100 times greater than an atomic bomb.
How was a nuclear bomb built?
I suggest reading Richard Rhodes books: The Making Of The Atomic Bomb and Dark Sun. They can explain it more clearly than can be done here.
