0
Nuclear Weapons
This category is for questions about weapons that use nuclear fission or fusion to gain explosive power.
3,869 Questions
What materials can nuclear radiation travel through?
The heavier and denser the material the more radiation it absorbs. Alpha is stopped by thin sheets, in fact the skin stops it mostly so it does not penetrate the body. Beta and gamma are best stopped by lead or concrete. Neutrons are more penetrating, they need to be stopped by hydrogenous material. Concrete is effective but needs to be thick. Water itself is a good neutron shield, as are heavy plastics and waxes.
So radiation can travel through light materials and gases (and a vacuum), with the proviso about neutrons as above.
There are two types. the fission nuke, and the fusion nuke( hydrogen bomb.) fission is most common so... in fission, there are explosives outlining either 239plutonium or 235 uranium. Special timers go off, shooting a slow neutron particle at either uranium or plutonium, causing a nuclear chain reaction . Since the U or Pu is already very unstable, the one touch of the neutron decays the atoms, and shoots out unneeded energy along with neutrons, causing the explosives to detonate and explode, along with the radioactive atoms, causing nuclear waste fallout and extreme massive amounts of energy, incinerating anything in the blast's path.
How do you get safe from nuclear weapon?
The best way to protect yourself from a nuclear weapon is to seek shelter in a sturdy building or underground facility. It's also important to follow emergency response guidelines provided by local authorities, such as evacuating the area if instructed. Additionally, having a supply of emergency essentials like food, water, and first aid supplies can help in the event of a nuclear attack.
What is the Size and wt. of nuclear bomb?
The size and weight of a nuclear bomb can vary depending on its design and yield. Generally, nuclear bombs can range in size from a few feet to tens of feet and can weigh anywhere from a few hundred pounds to tens of thousands of pounds. The most powerful nuclear bombs are typically larger and heavier due to the complexity of their design and the amount of nuclear material they contain.
The primary elements used in the atomic bomb are uranium or plutonium. These elements undergo a process called nuclear fission, where their atoms split apart, releasing a large amount of energy in the form of heat, light, and radiation. This energy is harnessed to create the explosive power of an atomic bomb.
What is the safest place when a nuclear bomb goes off?
The safest place during a nuclear bomb explosion is underground in a well-built structure, such as a basement or bomb shelter. The goal is to put as much material as possible between yourself and the blast to reduce exposure to radiation. It is important to follow official emergency guidelines and seek shelter as quickly as possible in the event of a nuclear attack.
What are the materials that are in the nuclear bomb?
It varies somewhat for various designs of bombs, but the following list contains typical materials making up a fusion/hydrogen bomb, the primary stage of which is a fission bomb:
- fissile material; Plutonium-239, Uranium-235, and/or Uranium-233.
- conventional explosives to rapidly assemble the fissile material into a supercritical mass from a subcritical mass.
- neutron source to start the fission reaction at the right time for optimal yield. This is usually an electronic high voltage tritium ion fusion accelerator external to the bomb assembly, but early bombs used a beryllium/polonium source at the center of the fissile core.
- tamping material to contain the supercritical fissile material long enough to get a good yield; typically Uranium-238.
- electronics for safeing/arming and detonating the conventional explosives and firing the neutron source.
- fusion fuel; Deuterium, Tritium, Lithium Deuteride.
- structural plastics; e.g. polystyrene, polypropylene.
- tamping material to contain the fusion reaction long enough to get a good yield; any dense material can be used, but typically Uranium-238 in which case fission of the Uranium amplifies the yield by roughly a factor of 10.
- sparkplug to trigger the fusion reaction; typically Plutonium-239.
- hohlraum casing to direct x-rays from fission primary to fusion secondary to compress and heat fusion fuel.
- etc.
How are nuclear weapons created?
I suggest reading:
- The Making of the Atomic Bomb, by Richard Rhodes.
- Dark Sun, by Richard Rhodes
- Swords of Armageddon, by Chuck Hansen
These cover the declassified details very well.
Difference between atom bomb and hydrogen bomb?
One takes large atoms and breaks them into smaller atoms--called fission (a-bomb).
The other takes really small atoms and fuses them together to make larger atoms--called fusion (h-bomb).
What effect of a nuclear detonation often causes lung damage and ruptured eardrums?
The intense blast wave from a nuclear detonation is responsible for causing lung damage and ruptured eardrums. The rapid change in air pressure can lead to these injuries by creating a powerful shockwave that propagates outward from the explosion.
What is the biggest nuclear bomb ever detonated called?
The biggest nuclear bomb ever detonated is called the Tsar Bomba. It was detonated by the Soviet Union in 1961 and had a yield of 50 megatons, making it the most powerful nuclear weapon ever tested.
Who is the only president to authorize the use of nuclear weapons?
Harry S. Truman is the only president who authorized the use of nuclear weapons, ordering the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan during World War II in 1945.
Has there ever been a nuclear explosion?
Yes, Hiroshima, Nagasaki were both bombed with Nuclear weapons
Chernobyl was a nuclear powerplant that suffered a meltdown, and a nuclear explosion
And there were countless Nuclear tests
There was NO nuclear explosion at Chernobyl! The explosion was a steam explosion that blew the roof off the building and maybe 1/4 of the reactor contents up in the air, all immediate debris landed within a short distance of the plant. Then the graphite moderator of the reactor core caught fire carrying radioactive smoke that dropped fallout on millions of surrounding square miles. If it had had a containment building as all US nuclear power plants are required, to the steam explosion and fire would have been completely contained with no offsite contamination!
The number of nuclear tests is quite countable, see: Swords of Armageddon by Chuck Hansen.
How hot is a nuclear explosion?
The explosion itself is not the source of the heat emitted from a nuclear detonation. Instead the heat is the source of the explosion. Compare this with thunder following a lightning strike. In the nuclear bomb temperatures of about 20 million degrees fahrenheit are produced causing the emission of x-rays which ionizes the air preventing any more light or IR emission until the bomb cools enough that it no longer is emitting x-rays. In lightning the temperature of the ionized conducting air channel is only about 90000 degrees fahrenheit.
As to the temperature of things around the fireball from a nuclear detonation, directly beneath the fireball temperatures can reach about 7000 degrees fahrenheit. To give an example by which to compare this heat, free flowing magma, or melted rock, averages a high of 4000 degrees fahrenheit.
The pit of the weapon (and possibly the secondary -- basically all the parts inside the radiation case) and the radiothermal generators for the permissive action links would probably be warmer than the rest of the components due to radioactive decay. These components, however, are deep inside the weapon.
The weapon's overall surface temperature is probably not much warmer than room temperature.
During a nuclear detonation though, the fireball can reach blackbody temperatures of 107 degrees centigrade but this is mostly in the form of X-rays and is quickly absorbed by the atmosphere, and the energy is then reradiated at around 10,000 K.
How long does it take to die after a nuclear bomb is dropped?
it all depends on how close you are to the bomb? At Hiroshima, they found some "shadows of death" that were shadows of people burned into the walls. The people may not have been vaporized but they were probably killed almost instantly. Others a little further away received high doses of radiation, which burns their skin. Further away, they began to have symptoms of "radiation sickness", which leads to death in a few weeks.
Was the atomic bomb the worlds biggest nuclear explosion?
No. Hydrogen Bombs have been detonated that make the atomic bomb look small in comparison. The Atomic Bombs dropped on Japan in WW2 were 25 Kton (equivilent to 25000 tons of dynamite), while H bombs can be as big as several hundred Megaton (million tons of dynamite)
How fast can a nuclear power station reach full power from shutdown?
It takes a few days to get a plant online after it has been shut down, cooled down and depressurized. Note that it only takes a few minutes to an hour or so to start up the nuclear reactor, depending on the plant. That reactor doesn't take all that long to be made critical. But it takes many hours to heat the primary plant, and then heat up all the steam lines in the secondary plant before you can begin drawing steam to roll the turbines. The limits on the speed at which the plant can be brought online are in the transfer of heat throughout the primary system and the heating of the secondary one. Note that plants are operated to avoid high differential temperatures across the pressure vessel and primary components. And blowing a bunch of steam down a cold steam line will cause the steam to condense. Water droplets and rapidly spinning turbine blades make for a bad mix. It takes a finite amount of time to get the plant "hot" and start generating the megawatts. This all takes a couple or three days or so to do, depending on the size of the plant. Sometimes the plant will sit at a few percent operating capacity while tests and such are run, particularly if the plant is coming back after an extended shutdown. You can guess a few other variables. Bottom line is it takes little time to get the reactor critical, but quite a bit of time (relatively speaking) to heat everything up. Once things are hot in the primary and bleeding steam has heated the secondary, the order is given to open the steam stops and the turbines will begin to spin.
How powerful is a nuclear bomb?
A nuclear bomb is extremely powerful, and that's why there are many countries seeking to obtain this power. Since the US is such a "responsible" country, the president is only aloud to look at the directions of how to control our countries nuclear power when in an emergency.
The power of a nuclear bomb is typically measured in kilotons or megatons. 1 megaton is the equivalent of 1 million tons of TNT (similar to dynamite) blowing up. The largest nuclear bombs were around 50 megatons, or 50 million tons (or 50 billion kilograms) of TNT. The smallest nuclear bombs were around 10 tons (yes, that is only 0.01 kiloton). Note that at this time (2013) no country stockpiles bombs either that large or that small (about 50 kilotons to 300 kilotons is currently typical).
Also, a nuclear bomb is powerful enough to take out an entire city, while spreading deadly radioactive fallout throughout the area. There is still some leftover radiation in places like Hiroshima and the various above ground test sites.
Blast radius of a nuclear explosion?
it depends mainly on the amount or weight of the nuclear bomb.....that is ....the amount of radioactive uranium and plutonum inside it....diff weights have different blast radiuses.....the heavier the bomb the larger the explosion.
Actually it has nothing whatsoever to do with the weight of the bomb, It depends on:
- yield
- burst height/depth
- weather (e.g. inversion layer above burst)
- What level of overpressure you want to measure as the "blast radius"
The amount of uranium or plutonium in the bomb is usually an insignificant fraction of the weight of a nuclear bomb or warhead. Fatman had about 10 pounds of plutonium yet weighed 10,000 pounds. The remaining 9,990 pounds consisted mostly of depleted uranium, conventional explosives, electronics, and a steel ballistic casing!
One bomb can easily be much lighter than another and have a higher yield, if its materials usage is more efficient. This is a major goal of nuclear weapon designers.
The three usual overpressure zones nuclear weapons planners are concerned with are the 1000 psi zone (which is generally the requirement to knock out a hardened missile silo), the 20 psi zone (which destroys steel reinforced buildings), and the 5 psi zone (which destroys normal buildings). In particular, the 5 psi zone is used for casualty calculations, since the number of survivors of inside the 5 psi zone is roughly equivalent to the deaths outside that zone, for a typical area with an even population distribution.
For a 1 MT weapon detonated at the optimal distance from the ground to produce the maximum radius of the PSI zone in question, here are the appropriate distances from ground zero: 3.2 miles (5 psi), 1.4 miles (20 psi), 0.5 mile (1000 psi). The power of a nuclear weapon goes up with the cube root of the yield - so, if you want a weapon that has twice the area of effect, it needs to have 8 times the yield. So, a 1kT weapon has 0.1 of the area of effect of a 1MT weapon, while a 125kT weapon has 0.5 the area of effect compared to a 1 MT weapon.
What are the disadvantages of nuclear weapons?
through the used of nuclear weapon their is a big threats to people such as
death,sucide attacks,paralism
They have a bit of a tendency to be an "all or nothing" weapon with some advantage to a country willing to start with a surprise overwhelming strategic first strike and willing to take a certain amount of retaliatory losses. It is very hard to make used of them in a limited war.
New editer also they have a treaty about not using or tradeing nukes so they would get #!#%ed up by other areas
they can be serious overkill in many military situations where more selective and subtle methods might be appropriate.
What is the size of a typical nuclear warhead on an ICBM?
Remember that most modern weapons are dial-a-yield weapons, which means the warhead can be boosted anywhere from a minimum to a maximum yield.
This all depends on the ICBM delivery vehicle, the specific warhead, the country of origin and the yield set on each warhead. I'd say anywhere from 150 kilotons to 450 kilotons or so per warhead, depending.
Is an atomic bomb or a nuclear bomb more powerful?
The terms "atomic bomb" and "nuclear bomb" are general terms and can pretty much be used interchangeably. That said, there isn't any difference between them, and one is not more powerful than the other in that light.
The element being referred to is likely Einsteinium (Es), which was discovered in the debris following the detonation of the first hydrogen bomb in 1952. Einsteinium is a synthetic element, not found naturally in the environment, and was named after Albert Einstein. Its discovery marked an important milestone in the synthesis of heavy elements.
