roughly 1500 feet above the ground.
With conventional explosives to assemble a supercritical mass before it can begin a spontaneous chain reaction, melt and fizzle. Then a neutron source sprays the supercritical mass with a burst of neutrons at the optimal time to trigger a high efficiency chain reaction. The conventional explosives were detonated with electrical exploding wire detonators.
A nuclear bomb contains either enriched uranium or plutonium as its fissile material, surrounded by conventional high explosives. When the explosives are detonated, they compress the fissile material to trigger a chain reaction, releasing a massive amount of energy in the form of a nuclear explosion.
Atom bombs work by the principle of atomic fission (splitting large atomic nuclei), while hydrogen bombs work by atomic fusion (combining small atomic nuclei). The hydrogen bomb is hundreds or thousands of times more powerful than the atom bomb. The hydrogen bomb uses an atom bomb as a trigger.The term "atomic bomb" is a general term that can be applied to any nuclear weapon. What kind of weapons are there and where does the hydrogen bomb fit in?There are fission devices (the "regular" atomic bomb), fission-fusion devices (the clean hydrogen bomb) and fission-fusion-fission devices (the dirty hydrogen bomb).In the atomic bomb (fission device), uranium or plutonium is forced into a "critical mass", causing the atoms of the element to fission or "split" into the smaller atoms of other elements. When they split, they give off neutrons that split even more of the atoms (i.e. chain reaction). Each atom gives off a tremendous amount of energy as a tiny fraction of its matter is converted.In the clean hydrogen bomb (fission-fusion device), the heat given off by a fission explosion is directed at a container of fusible hydrogen (deuterium and/or tritium). The heat and pressure causes the hydrogen to fuse into helium, the same process that takes place in the Sun and stars. This reaction produces an incredible amount of energy, because again a tiny amount of matter from each atom is converted.In the dirty hydrogen bomb (fission-fusion-fission device), the energetic neutrons from the fusion explosion are so numerous that a casing of "ordinary" uranium (mostly U-238) will also fission, creating a fantastic amount of energy (up to 90% of the total yield of the bomb can be from this fission). Thicker casings or additional stages could theoretically create massive bombs 1000 times the power of fission bombs. The largest bomb ever tested, the 50-megaton "Tsar Bomba" of the Soviet Union, was built with this design (three stage design: fission primary, fusion secondary, fusion tertiary). If it had used actual uranium around the third stage, it could have yielded 100 megatons or more. However, the fallout from such a bomb would be large and widespread, risking contamination of areas far beyond the target. In the configuration tested, the "Tsar Bomba" was actually the cleanest nuclear bomb ever detonated (in terms of amount of fallout per kiloton of yield), even though it produced more total fallout than any other nuclear bomb ever detonated (because of the very high yield).The design used by modern weapons was created by the physicists Edward Teller and Stanislaw Ulam in 1951.The "Hydrogen" bomb refers to the "Fusion" of a Hydrogen Isotope on an Atomic scale by way of steps of multiple reactions thus yielding a much more powerful explosion upwards of 500 Million Tons of TNT. It is also known as "ThermoNuclear". The "Atom" or "A" bomb refers to the "Fission" or "Fusion" of Uranium or Plutonium in a single step reaction, rather than multiple steps,yielding an explosion.
Depends on the size of the bomb (they come in many different sizes- bigger is more destructive) and how high the bomb is above ground when it explodes. Most are set to explode when several hundred feet above ground.
A traditional nuclear fission bomb is used as a trigger in a hydrogen bomb. The explosion from the fission bomb generates the high temperatures and pressures needed to initiate the fusion reaction in the hydrogen bomb.
31,600 ft
They are the same kind of bomb: bombs that derive their energy from the atomic nucleus. It just depends on design and how much of the design yield is from fission or from fusion. Pure fission bombs cannot be built with yields above 1 megaton, but including some fusion the theoretical yield is unlimited.However considering mission, construction costs, size limits, etc. it is usually more practical to build low yield bombs that are part fission part fusion than to try to build high yield bombs of either type.The lowest yield nuclear bomb tested was the US Davy Crocket at 10 tons yield, the highest yield nuclear bomb tested was the USSR Tsar Bomba at 52 to 58 megatons yield (depending on method of measurement). Both were part fission part fusion designs, although the designs were obviously very different: the Davy Crocket was almost entirely fission yield, the Tsar Bomba was over 95% fusion yield and generated the least fallout per kiloton yield of any nuclear bomb detonated in the atmosphere.
The cloud rose to over 60,000 feet in about ten minutes.
The cloud rose to over 60,000 feet in about ten minutes.
It had to be a sunny day because the bomb had to be dropped from a high altitude so as not to endanger the bomber, and the only way to hit the target during that era was by sighting it through an optical bomb sight. After Hiroshima, the next city to be bombed was Kokura, but it was saved by heavy cloud cover, and Nagasaki was bombed instead.
Too many variables to give a simple answer- depends on the bomb, and how it is used- surface burst, high air burst, etc. In the best situation, a few weeks. You might note that the only two cities to ever have been atom bombed- Hiroshima and Nagasaki, both have people living and working there.
Hiroshima, the capital of Japan's Hiroshima Prefecture, was the target of the first nuclear weapon dropped by the United States in the war. A number of Japanese cities were selected as possible targets (but not Tokyo) to demonstrate the power of a nuclear device to the Japanese High Command and the Emporer of Japan. It was hoped that they would see the wisdom in immediate surrender and the end of the War in the Pacific (WWII). Links are provided.
With conventional explosives to assemble a supercritical mass before it can begin a spontaneous chain reaction, melt and fizzle. Then a neutron source sprays the supercritical mass with a burst of neutrons at the optimal time to trigger a high efficiency chain reaction. The conventional explosives were detonated with electrical exploding wire detonators.
The WWII Grand Slam earthquake bombs made and used by the British to attack U-Boat pens and other concrete targets was the largest bomb used in that era. The 22000 pound (10000 kilogram) bomb - containing 9135 pounds of Torpex explosive with a yield of 6.2 tons of TNT equivalent - was carried by specially modified Avro Lancaster bombers.The Aviation Thermobaric Bomb of Increased Power, ATBIP, nicknamed the 'Father of all Bombs', is likely the largest non-nuclear bomb ever created with a yield of 44 tons of TNT equivalent. It carries just over 7 tonnes of enhanced explosive which uses atmospheric oxygen to burn - hence the thermobaric description - which makes it more powerful but equally as difficult to control.The Cold War-era RDS-220, commonly known as Tsar Bomba (the Tsar Bomb) is the largest bomb of any kind ever built and detonated. Only one was ever made and subsequently detonated in 1961 in Russia, with an estimated yield of over 50 megatons. The fireball was large enough to reach the ground and the altitude of the bomber that carried it, 10.5 kilometres high - it was bright and hot enough to be seen and felt 1000 kilometres away from ground zero. The shockwave was felt even on its third journey around the world, and windows were smashed in Finland and Sweden (around 800 kilometres away).
High altitude bombing in WWII was extremely inaccurate. An airming point was selected based on previous photo reconnisance and that meant that the bombradier had to find something on the ground that stood out and that could be identified through the bomb site. At Hiroshima, the T-shaped bridge over the Aioi River was selected as the aiming point. Detonation was 550 feet off the mark and with an atomic bomb, that was close enough to destroy the target.
No, nothing can survive extreme heat and pressure that an atom bomb puts out. There are only two way, one being the bomb shelter and the other is getting out of the blast radius. Animals that have simple internal systems may survive the radiation, but many would die.
There were a great many bombs dropped on Japan, mainly high explosive bombs, and incendiary bombs. The bomb used on Hiroshima was a atomic bomb holding 115 lbs of Uranium 235 (less than 1% of that was used in the explosion). The bomb dropped on Nagasaki was a Plutonium bomb, holding about 13.6 lbs of Plutonium. (about 20% of that was used up in the explosion)