Little boy was a bomb with highly enriched uranium.
No, plutonium is a different element entirely.
Plutonium is more dangerous: the specific activity is greater, the critical mass is smaller, the chemical toxicity is greater.
Plutonium has the same composition as uranium, except for the fact that it contains one more neutron and one more proton. Actually Plutonium-239 has 2 more protons and 2 more neutrons than Uranium-235.
It is relative easy to obtain uranium; the preparation of plutonium is more difficult and extremely dangerous.
The Pauling electronegativity of uranium is 1,38; the Pauling electronegativity of plutonium is 1,28.So, plutonium is a bit more chemically reactive than uranium.
The critical mass of plutonium is lower, plutonium is not so expensive as highly enriched uranium, the technology to obtain plutonium is more simple than the isotopic separa-tion of uranium, etc.
Plutonium is more toxic and radioactive.
No, plutonium is used more. Uranium can only be used in gun type nuclear weapons, which are rarely used.
1. Uranium is a possible polluting agent of the natural environment. 2. Uranium is a toxic and a radioactive chemical element. 3. Uranium release radium and radon. 4. Radioactive wastes are dangerous and need to be isolated. Plutonium: the same characteristics, but it is more toxic and radioactive. Hydrogen: it is a cause of severe explosions.
There are numerous isotopes of both plutonium and uranium ( all radioactive) thus it is not easy to say which element is more radioactive. However the half lives of the most active isotpe of each compound is follows241Pu has a half life of 14 years232U has a half life of 68.9 yearsSo in terms of activity, Plutonium is more radioactive; however uranium stays radioactive for a longer time.The specific activity of plutonium is greater than the specific activity of uranium (comparison between 239Pu and 238U).
For more informations about uranium: see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UraniumFor more informations about plutonium: see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlutoniumFor a short answer to an identical question, see : What_are_the_differences_between_plutonium_and_uranium
The obvious difference is a plutonium weapon uses plutonium as its fuel while a uranium weapon uses uranium as its fuel, however there are also composite weapons that use both as their fuel. Plutonium, being produced in reactors has some degree of plutonium-240 and plutonium-241 as undesired contaminates that can cause a fizzle. So weapons made with plutonium must be assembled much more rapidly than uranium weapons. So uranium weapons can use either gun or implosion rapid assembly systems, but weapons using any amount of plutonium must use implosion rapid assembly systems.