What is a thermonuclear bomb?

Answer 1

The Teller-Ulam design is the nuclear weapon design concept used in most of the world's nuclear weapons. Colloquially referred to as "the secret of thehydrogen bomb", because it employs hydrogen fusion to generate neutrons, in most applications the bulk of its destructive energy comes from uranium fission, nothydrogen fusion. It is named for its two chief contributors, Edward Teller and Stanisław Ulam, who developed it in 1951 for the United States. It was first used in multi-megaton-range thermonuclear weapons. As it is also the most efficient design concept for small nuclear weapons, today virtually all the nuclear weapons deployed by the five major nuclear-armed nations use the Teller-Ulam design.

Its essential features, which officially remained secret for nearly three decades, are: 1) separation of stages into a triggering "primary" explosive and a much more powerful "secondary" explosive, 2) compression of the secondary by X-rays coming from nuclear fission in the primary, a process called the "radiation implosion" of the secondary, and 3) heating of the secondary, after cold compression, by a second fission explosion inside the secondary.

The radiation implosion mechanism is a heat engine exploiting the temperature difference between the hot radiation channel, surrounding the secondary, and the relatively cool interior of the secondary. This temperature difference is briefly maintained by a massive heat barrier called the "pusher". The pusher is also an implosion tamper, increasing and prolonging the compression of the secondary, and, if made of uranium, which it usually is, it undergoes fission by capturing theneutrons produced by fusion. In most Teller-Ulam weapons, fission of the pusher dominates the explosion and produces radioactive fission product fallout.

The first test of this principle was the "Ivy Mike" nuclear test in 1952, conducted by the United States. In the Soviet Union, the design was known as Andrei Sakharov's "Third Idea", first tested in 1955. Similar devices were developed by the United Kingdom, China, and France, though no specific code names are known for their designs.

-Courtesy of Wikipedia 'Teller-Ulam design'

Answer 2

A thermonuclear weapon (Hydrogen bomb) is a weapon whose yield is derived mainly from fusion as its energy source. A nuclear weapon derives most of its yield from fission (sometimes these are boosted and a small fusion reaction does take place but it's tiny).

Typically, these devices consist of a primary and a secondary. The primary is basically a small nuclear weapon. This is exploded and its energy is used to compress a secondary, which contains a source of tritium and deuterium (Li6 Deuteride) which causes a fusion reaction.

The primary and secondary are enclosed in a radiation case which focuses the X-rays from the primary's explosion are focused and reradiated, causing the secondary to collapse onto itself, imploding it and causing a fusion reaction.

Typically these are found in large strategic and tactical nukes. The yield can be large, or the yield can be small and the weapon small as well.

Answer 3

A thermonuclear bomb, also known as a hydrogen bomb, is a type of nuclear weapon that uses both nuclear fission and nuclear fusion reactions to produce a much more powerful explosive force than atomic bombs. It relies on the heat and pressure generated by a fission explosion to ignite a fusion reaction, resulting in a significantly larger explosion.