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Nuclear Weapons
This category is for questions about weapons that use nuclear fission or fusion to gain explosive power.
3,869 Questions
Why is Albert Einstein's discovery on the atomic bomb important?
There is no importance as that is false. Albert Einstein never discovered nor invented the atomic bomb. He was a pacifist and would not work on any weapon.
He could not even imagine the building of atomic bombs, until Leo Szilard (the inventor of the neutron chain reaction used in atomic bombs and nuclear reactors in 1933) brought him a letter on August 2, 1939 to sign that warned president Franklin D. Roosevelt that Nazi Germany was probably working on atomic bombs, so the US should begin research on the topic also. As a pacifist Albert Einstein was completely opposed to anyone making such a weapon, but his pragmatism and fear of what the Nazis would do with it compelled him to sign.
That was his only knowledge of atomic bombs until he read the headline of the August 6, 1945 newspapers announcing that Hiroshima had been attacked with one.
Though America and Britain were allies with Russia, in the fight against Germany, Russia was always viewed with suspicion by America and Britain. Which is why, at the end of the war, the Americans hastened to spirit away the German scientists who had been working on rocket propulsion and guidance systems of the V2 rockets, to the USA, before the Russians could capture them. So, naturally, each ally had many secrets that were not divulged to anyone.
How much is an original photo of atom bomb being tested at bikini atoll worth?
Nothing as all such photos were taken by agencies of the US Federal government, making them in the public domain (unless still classified).
Where was the worlds first nuclear bomb created?
Los Alamos, NM produced at least the first 9 atomic bombs built, 5 of these were detonated. 3 in tests and 2 in combat.
Prior to the late 1970s, when the USSR stockpile rose above the US, almost certainly they would have quickly lost. After that it is less certain.
Where was the Little Boy Atomic Bomb constructed?
The pieces were constructed at Los Alamos, NM, final assembly was on Tinnian island in the pacific.
Cuban missile crises.
How much nuclear bombs make a mega ton of dynamite?
A single 1 MTon bomb will do it, or four 250 KTon bombs, or a thousand 1 KTon bombs, etc. However more smaller bombs can spread the damage wider than one large bomb.
What kind of electro-magnetic pulse -EMP- weapons are there?
Nuclear weapons, when detonated at high altitude, will produce a significant EMP capable of damaging unshielded electrical components. There has been discussion of NNMP weapons (non nuclear magnetic pulse) but that information is classified. Please see the link below for some general information on EMP.
Building nuclear reactors with plutonium fuels and Pu-Be neutron sources.
How did the development of nuclear weapons change the military tactics in the US and Soviet Union?
For the US look up the Pentomic Army.
What problems do nuclear weapons put on a country?
It really depends on what country owns the nuclear weapons, if your country owns them, then the only thing you have to worry about is that it will go off by accident (Completely unlikely). But if it is an enemy country that owns them you have to watch out for nuclear attacks.
Why is nuclear arms race important?
it was a competition between two or more parties to have the best armed forces.
Who has the biggest hydrogen bomb in the world?
The Soviet Union supposedly tested bombs above 50 megatons. The US acknowledged bombs of greater than 15 MT. There is no certainty of whether the Russians have continued to stock the huge bombs, or whether the USA still has them also. The Russian bomb was built in 1961 and tested on an island near the Arctic Circle; it was nicknamed Tsara Bomba (Emperor Bomb).
Atomic weapons used during World War 2?
There were two atomic bombs use during WWII. They were called the 'Little Boy' and 'Fat Man.'
Should US still make nuclear missiles?
Yes. The nuclear arsenal of the United States is made so that it must be refurbished every three months or the nuclear warheads will not work. This is done by design so that if a weapon ever comes up missing, after a short time it will become just a large semi-radioactive paperweight.
Other than that, If we did not continue to make nuclear weapons, Other countries who do still have nuclear weapons would be able to attack us with no worries about being hit themselves. Our threat of nuking other countries is what keeps our country safe from nuclear attack.
MAD, Mutually Assured Destruction.
Both countries felt that they were safe from attack if they were powerful enough to destroy the other.
How strong was the chernobyl disaster compared to an atomic bomb?
The explosion itself was a very weak steam explosion (yield well under 1 ton of TNT) compared to a nuclear explosion (typical yields in the kilotons to megatons of TNT), the operators in the control building attached to the reactor were not even aware the reactor had exploded for roughly a half hour after the actual event! Had a nuclear explosion happened, all four reactors and other buildings on site would have been instantly destroyed and the operators killed. The real damage at Chernobyl came not from the explosion but from the graphite fire deep in the core that followed the explosion and was almost impossible to put out. As long as that fire burned, its smoke carried radioactive pieces of the core high in the atmosphere to drop down all over the Ukraine and Europe as fallout. This fallout level compares to that of a very high yield thermonuclear bomb, but as it was being lofted by a long lasting fire instead of a single blast the actual damage from that fallout almost certainly covered a larger area than the fallout from such a bomb would.
In other words, it is really hard to say.
How big is a nuclear blast radius?
Little Boy was the nuclear bomb detonated over Hiroshima. It used uranium and had an explosive blast equivalent to 12,500 tons of TNT. A 1 megaton hydrogen bomb, hypothetically detonated on the earth's surface, has about 80 times the blast power of that 1945 explosion.
Considering the tonnage of a bomb to be contant, The blast radius varies dependent on whether it is a ground burst or an airburst. Further, the height of the airburst above ground affects the radius too. At a height of 1900 feet above ground, Little Boy produced a blast radius of 1 mile; an area of some 4.7 square miles.
What is a nuclear weapon in wich enormous energy is released by nuclear fission?
This nuclear weapon is called an atomic bomb or a nuclear bomb
What led to the signing of the nuclear test ban treaty?
US President Kennedy and Soviet Premier Khrushchev were sobered by the Cuban missile crisis and sought to ease tensions between their countries.
Why cant nuclear explosions be heard on earth?
Huh? They not only can be heard but they can be deafening. Using the same seismic equipment used to locate earthquakes, one can "hear" any nuclear explosion anywhere in the entire world, measure its yield, and confirm that it was definitely an explosion not an earthquake (the shockwave pattern is totally different).
