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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
What element was discovered in the debris from the first hydrogen bomb explosion?
The fallout of Ivy Mike contained two new elements which were then named einsteinium and fermium.
As each side's intelligence agencies could not accurately estimate the stockpile and ability to expand the enemy stockpile was always overestimated, forcing decision makers into continuing to expand their stockpile.
This applies to conventional weapons as well as nuclear.
How many nuclear missiles does the United States have?
At the peak the US had 1052 ICBMs (1000 Minuteman & 52 Titan) plus SLBMs, IRBMs, SRBMs, and Cruise Missiles in various lesser quantities. The Minutemans have always been the largest quantity of one type and now even some of them have been retired to meet START limits. Counting all types of missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead the US might still have somewhere under 2500, but the exact number is probably classified and most nuclear capable Cruise Missiles and SRBMs are normally armed with just conventional warheads (so they wouldn't count).
What did the government have to explain to New Mexico when they tested the atomic bomb?
Absolutely nothing, but they did have about a dozen different cover stories for the army to release to the press, depending on the results of the test, to minimize public speculations. The cover story released afterwards claimed a very large ammo dump had exploded and warned that it may be necessary to evacuate some areas due to poison gas shells in the dump (which was a cover for evacuations because of fallout, which were on several small farms and homesteads east of the test site).
What was the name of the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb in World War 2?
The Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb, on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.
The bomber named Bockscar dropped the second bomb, on Nagasaki on August 9. Both aircraft were B-29 bombers that operated from a special unit; the 509th Composite Bomb Group, flying from Tinian Island in the Marianas.
What is the name of a missile storehouse?
Perhaps you are thinking of "silo", which is also used to refer to a grain storehouse.
Has a hydrogen bomb ever been dropped?
Tsar Bomba was a hydrogen bomb which was actually detonated and not dropped. The test was held on October 30,1961. Tsar Bomba was the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated.
Why weapons are not allowed on a plane?
so that the plane will have a smaller chance of being hijacked and to prevent terrorist attacks in foreign countries.
What are the three barriers in a nuclear power plant?
Reactivity control, Emergency core cooling, Fuel Cladding, Primary containment, Secondary containment. OK - so that's five... Control and cooling might not be barriers, per se, but they are up there in the grand scheme of things.
Why is the atomic bomb different from normal bombs?
- conventional chemical bombs get their energy from the electromagnetic force of the 8 valence band electrons of the outermost S & P orbitals
- nuclear bombs get their energy from the strong nuclear force that holds the nucleus of the atom together
Note: both operate in accordance with E=Mc2, but as the strong force is several orders of magnitude stronger than the electromagnetic force several orders of magnitude more mass converts to energy in nuclear bombs than in conventional bombs.
Why haven't atomic weapons been used since World War 2?
Answer by an editor: No one wants to use an atomic weapon, particularly the nuclear missiles we have now in the world. The weapons of today can destroy 1/3 of the world so they are not fired.
Was there ever been a nuclear explosion in the US?
There have been many nuclear explosion in the US in places like, Nevada and New Mexico. In anger against the US no. Japan still remains the only country in the world to be bomb in anger with nuclear weapons.
Why couldn't the US run a blockade in response to Russia sending nuclear missiles to Cuba?
A blockade was considered an act of war.
How deep underground do you have to be to avoid a nuclear bomb?
You can survive the fallout by being at least 6 inches below the ground. You will get third degree burns at 8 miles below the ground. Thirty miles You will probally experience great heat.
It depends on yield, height/depth of burst, distance to burst, and quantity and type of fallout at your location. Without knowing all this and performing some very complicated and somewhat approximate calculations, no specific values (like those above) can be given.
How many species killed with in a minutes by the explosion of nuclear bombs?
Nuclear bombs were used against human kind in Japan's Hiroshima and Nagasaki cities. It killed humans of every age, horses, dogs, cats, rats and mice. It also killed insects as roaches, ants, fleas, ticks, flies and roaches.
A myth was spread that roaches don't die in a nuclear blast. That is not true.
Who is the creator of the nuclear bomb?
The nuclear bomb was developed during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project. The project was led by scientists such as J. Robert Oppenheimer and physicists like Enrico Fermi. However, the overall development of the bomb involved the efforts of many individuals and institutions.
Where did most nuclear weapons testing occur in the US?
The 2 test ranges were the pacific test range (bikini and eniwetok atolls) and the Nevada proving grounds (north of Vegas).
Additional tests were done in about a half dozen states including Colorado, New Mexico, off the coast of California south of san Diego (underwater). Two test series were launched on rockets from kwajalene atoll to explode in space. One of these series was during project Gemini and they had to postpone the Gemini mission for fear the capsule's orbit would cross the radiation belt from one test.
Does vandenberg afb have nuclear missiles?
That is Classified. No civilian nor enlisted Air Force personnel will know this answer. Only certain high Chain of Command and Staff in the U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Armed Forces will know this. The current President of the U.S. is not even allowed to know this information either. What VAFB launches are polar-orbit satallites, which is launched by certain missiles that could successfully carry the payload into earths' orbit. The information again is classified to civilians.
