Nuclear Weapons

Deuterium is a stable isotope of hydrogen, with one proton and one neutron in its nucleus. It is used in the fusion stage of a hydrogen bomb to initiate the explosive chain reaction.

Ernest Rutherford is credited with creating the nuclear model of an atom. In 1911, his gold foil experiment demonstrated that atoms have a small, positively charged nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. This model laid the foundation for our modern understanding of atomic structure.

The price of plutonium on the black market is highly variable and difficult to determine accurately. It is illegal to buy and sell plutonium without proper authorization due to its highly dangerous and illegal nature. Engaging in such transactions is highly risky and could lead to severe legal consequences.

Heat is formed through the transfer of energy between particles within a substance. This energy transfer causes the particles to move faster, resulting in an increase in temperature. Heat can be generated through various processes such as combustion, friction, and nuclear reactions.

A absolutely gigantic amount! First you need to mine hundreds of tons of uranium ore, then you need to purify it, by conversion to uranium hexaflouride. I will not go into the detail of this process, but the resulting uranium hexaflouride is VERY toxic. THen the uranium hexaflouride needs to go through one of two processes: gaseous diffusion of ultra-high speed centrifuging. The first dydtem is the one used for bulk U-235 (the resulting weapons grade uranium) during the Manhattan project. It uses baffles and filters (made of things like tungsten-zirconium alloys) to separate the U-238 (the depleted uranium that makes up 95% of the uranium ore) form the U-235. The second process is centrifuging, where the uranium hexafluoride is spun at 500 MPH until the heavier U-238 is separated. The uranium is the only really expensive part in a gun-type weapon, but the big weapons,fusion bombs use plutonium which production is to complicated to go over here.

Not completely. The gamma and neutron radiation are the hardest to stop, and they can really only be attenuated. It typically takes a few feet of most metals to attenuate gamma to safe exposure levels and denser metals are always better (titanium is not all that dense). Neutron radiation is not effectively attenuated except by strong neutron absorbers like boron and cadmium. Reactor shielding is typically composed of alternating layers of a couple inches of lead plate and a foot or so of borated concrete, until sufficient attenuation has been obtained for both gamma and neutrons.

Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. Radioactivity, nuclear wastes that will be around for hundred or thousands of years, power plants that can blow up easy if you don't know what you are doing, nuclear material that can be stolen and be used to make atomic weapons. All nuclear power does is to boil water and make steam. There are far easier, less dangerous, or expensive ways to make steam. Restrict nuclear power to aircraft carriers, submarines and deep space satellites that go away from the sun (and out of the range of solar panels).

A pure fission bomb completes its detonation in less than 10 microseconds, the fireball reaches full size in a few milliseconds. A fusion bomb takes somewhat longer but is typically more powerful.

The precise number is classified, & not publicly available...

Probably there are 150-200 British built nuclear warheads for the American supplied Trident SLB Missile system. It's also possible that some smaller nuclear warheads have been developed for the Tomahawk cruise missiles also carried by Royal Navy nuclear submarines, but this is speculative!

Officially, all the "free-fall" nuclear bombs once carried by the RAF's "Strike Command"/ "V Force" aircraft have been decommissioned, but many suspect that some (maybe a hundred or so) have been upgraded & retained for "contingencies".

There are no longer any US controlled nuclear warheads based permanently in Britain, although nuclear armed American submarines operate routinely from UK naval bases under joint facility agreements between UK & US Governments.

The British Army (as per current NATO doctrine/ international arms control agreements/ treaties) no longer maintains/ controls any tactical nuclear weapons systems.

Bottom line, however, is that no-one apart from the Prime Minister, Intelligence & Defence Chiefs, & probably some very senior Civil Servants, knows the exact number of nuclear weapons currently retained by the UK: in order effectively to deter, it's best to keep potential enemies guessing...

Nuclear reactions are used in nuclear power plants to generate electricity, in nuclear weapons for military purposes, in medical imaging and cancer treatment, as a power source for spacecraft, and in food irradiation to kill bacteria and increase shelf life.

Governments continue to develop nuclear weapons as a deterrent against potential threats from other countries possessing such weapons. Additionally, having a nuclear arsenal can enhance a country's position in global politics and negotiations. However, some countries also justify nuclear weapons development as a means of maintaining national security and protecting their sovereignty.

Plutonium is highly explosive when in a critical mass, meaning a sufficient amount is brought together to sustain a nuclear chain reaction. However, in its standard form, such as in nuclear weapons or power plants, plutonium is not explosive on its own and requires specific conditions to detonate.

A neutron bomb is designed to release a large amount of neutron radiation, which can kill living organisms while causing minimal damage to structures. While it is considered highly lethal to humans, there are other nuclear weapons, such as hydrogen bombs, that have far greater destructive power in terms of blast radius and heat.

Yes, nuclear weapons release energy through a nuclear fission or fusion reaction, causing a powerful explosion. This release of energy is what causes the destructive force associated with nuclear weapons.

The short answer is that the hydrogen bomb -- the fusion bomb -- was the natural extension of the relatively simple fission bombs used over Japan in WWII.

The very creation of the fission "atomic" bomb made possible the pressures and temperatures needed to foster a fusion reaction. Doing so promised to unleash a level of energy and power unheard of even within the circles of Los Alamos.

More to the point, the Soviet Union had been conducting a crash development program to create an atomic bomb after WWII, a program that used the Soviet bomb research, but added to it all the missing pieces supplied to them by agents in the US. Spies like Klaus Fuchs and Ethel and Julius Rosenberg supplied the USSR with the design details for the basic A-bomb.

In 1949, about the same time they figured out how to reverse-engineer a B-29, the Soviets detonated an atomic bomb. Having stolen secrets far beyond the mere "firecracker" of a fission A-bomb, the Soviets immediately embarked on a crash program to develop the same thing the Americans were working on -- the fusion bomb.

The "hydrogen" bomb, or "thermonuclear" bomb, borrows its power and its design from our sun. The star we depend on is powered by a never-ending cycle of nuclear fusion and fission. The "hydrogen" bomb works by using the heat and energy of fission to create fusion, then the heat and energy of fusion to create fission again. It works pretty well; the numbers went from kilotons of TNT to megatons of TNT.

Why was it created? It was the logical extension of the fission bomb. It was the BIGGEST bomb around. It allowed one to place the word "megaton" into one's dictionary.

American megatons and Soviet megatons lubricated the Cold War. For over forty years, East faced West, megatons in holsters at hips, and not one nuclear shot was fired. (The Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 was ugly, but in the end, it was settled diplomatically.) No shots were fired because everyone was afraid that somebody somewhere might launch a missile or fire a shot that carried a "hydrogen bomb."

A nuclear explosion is initiated by triggering a chain reaction inside a nuclear device, either through implosion or gun-type mechanisms. This chain reaction causes rapid and uncontrolled splitting of atomic nuclei, releasing an immense amount of energy in the form of heat, light, and radiation, resulting in an explosion.

Nuclear weapons are harmful due to their destructive power, capable of causing mass casualties and widespread devastation. They also pose risks of long-term environmental damage, nuclear fallout, and radiation sickness. Additionally, the threat of nuclear warfare escalates global tensions and increases the risk of proliferation.

A nuclear bomb kills by releasing an intense burst of heat, light, and radiation that causes widespread damage to the surrounding area. The immediate effects include burns, blast injuries, and radiation exposure, while the long-term effects may include radiation sickness and increased risk of cancer due to exposure to radioactive fallout.

Building more nuclear power plants can help diversify the energy mix and reduce reliance on fossil fuels, which can lower greenhouse gas emissions. Nuclear power also provides a reliable source of electricity with low operating costs once the plants are built. Additionally, nuclear power plants can help meet the increasing global energy demand without contributing to air pollution.

A centrifuge is used in the enrichment of uranium for nuclear weapons. It spins at high speeds to separate the isotopes of uranium, with the goal of increasing the concentration of the fissile isotope uranium-235, which is used in nuclear weapons. This process is crucial for creating highly enriched uranium for nuclear bombs.

A hydrogen bomb, also known as a thermonuclear bomb, is more powerful than an atomic bomb. It relies on nuclear fusion, where atoms are combined, to release immense amounts of energy. In comparison, an atomic bomb uses nuclear fission, where atoms are split, to generate explosive energy.

A teraton bomb would be 1 million megatons, at least 20,000 times larger than the largest nuclear weapon ever built (tera = trillion or 1012, mega = million or 106). An explosive device with that yield would devastate most of a planet the size of Earth.

Some impacts between asteroids and planets would be in the 10 to 500 teraton range.