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A nuclear explosion requires two things. First, it requires a critical mass, and second, it requires that the critical mass hold together long enough into the chain reaction that it truly explodes and does not simply come apart.

The critical mass comes because certain isotopes spontaneously undergo fission, and, when doing so, produce enough neutrons to cause multiple other atoms to undergo fission also. If there is enough such material in a small enough volume, a chain reaction is produced that consumes most or all of the atoms present. The only natural element to do this is uranium-235.

A problem with this is that when the chain reaction starts, there is enough heat to cause the mass to fly apart, destroying the critical mass and ending the reaction. So, building a nuclear bomb requires addressing this problem. It is not an easy problem to overcome, and it probably cannot happen accidentally at all. There has been at least one attempt at building a nuclear bomb that probably failed because of this problem.

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Q: How does nuclear energy explode?
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