Nuclear Weapons

Yes, why couldn't they?

An ICBM carries its nuclear warhead into space and then releases it allowing it to fall from space onto its target.

Several hydrogen bomb tests had been performed by the US in space in the early 1960s (one of these caused a delay to a Gemini space mission due to a radiation belt it created that could hurt the astronauts).

A project to build spacecraft propelled by nuclear explosions called Project Orion began in the middle 1950s and was stopped in 1963 when the Atmospheric Test Ban Treaty prohibited nuclear explosions in space.

with a nuclear weapon they vary from short and long distances it depends what they equip the missile with like external boosters if everything is added which could make it fly further it would reach almost 7 000 miles ish give or take a few hundred

Nuclear weapons can technically operate in space, but there are international agreements that ban the placement of nuclear weapons in outer space. Additionally, using nuclear weapons in space could have catastrophic consequences due to the lack of atmosphere to contain the fallout.

No, a single nuclear bomb cannot destroy Earth's atmosphere. However, a large-scale nuclear war involving numerous bombs could have devastating effects on the atmosphere and potentially lead to long-term environmental consequences.

In the US, "Stop, drop, and cover" was introduced to schoolchildren nationwide to instill a sense of awareness of the issue of "civil defense".

Also, the aircraft industry embraced the age of rocketry, which created a lot of jobs and improved interstate travel. It also led us into the Cold War and the Space Race at the same time.

No, Goddard made ballistic missiles but the U.S. military ignored him as the artillery that they had could obviously carry much larger explosive payloads, so Goddard's missiles obviously were of no military value.

It took the German V-2 to show the military value of missiles, but the military still largely ignored Goddard and used Nazi scientists to develop military ballistic missiles instead.

Truman considered several key arguments when deciding to use the atomic bomb, including saving American lives by ending the war in the Pacific quickly, demonstrating American military might to the Soviet Union, and avoiding a prolonged and costly invasion of Japan. He also believed that using the bomb would compel Japan to surrender unconditionally and bring about a swift end to World War II.

The US nuclear weapons arsenal is powerful enough to destroy the Earth multiple times over. The exact number of times would depend on the specific yield of each warhead and the total number of warheads available.

A supernova releases an immense amount of energy, equivalent to billions of nuclear warheads exploding concurrently. The exact number would depend on the yield of each warhead, but it would be a vast number.

The pit ("core") in the primary of a two-stage thermonuclear weapon (or by itself in a single stage weapon) is a sphere or ovoid (hollow in modern weapons) made of a fissile material such as plutonium (usually) or uranium (less frequently). They are usually alloyed and plated with some other metal (with plutonium, the plutonium is usually alloyed with gallium and plated with nickel or gold)to stabilise them. They are frequently hollow but there is a pit tube to inject tritium or tritium / deuterium gas mixture into the core to boost the primary and adjust the yield of the weapon.

Some weapons contain a layer of a neutron reflecting material such as beryllium surrounding the pit or bonded to it. The pit may also be bare in certain compact linear implosion weapons.

Very old-style nuclear weapons had a pusher just outside the reflector made of aluminum or depleted uranium.

The secondaries of two-stage weapons (thermonuclear) also contain Lithium-6 deuteride as the source of deuterium and tritium for the fusion fuel during the ablative implosion of the secondary. There is a plutonium "spark plug" (it's a long hollow cylinder of plutonium, or a sphere in more modern compact weapons like the W87 or W88) inside and an outside layer made of lead or depleted uranium to compress the fusion fuel and the spark plug.

Transmutation occurs when a fusion bomb (H-bomb) detonates:

The Primary (A-bomb/fission) converts a heavy element like plutonium or uranium into lighter elements, such as strontium, etc...

The Secondary (H-bomb/fusion part) converts a light element into heavier elements, like Hydrogen into Helium.

Yes. Many countries around the world test nuclear bombs frequently. Most of these tests are underground or under water for secrecy reasons. The only other nuclear explosion used in war was the bombing of Nagasaki by the Americans, about a week after Hiroshima. The awsome (I use that word in its old-fashioned sense) effects of those two explosions caused the Japanese to surrender and World War Two to come to an end.

No, there are not enough nuclear weapons in existence to knock Earth off of its orbit. The force required to move a massive object like Earth would be astronomical and far beyond the capabilities of any known weapons. Earth's orbit is stable and not easily disrupted by human actions.

The "Tsar Bomba" was the biggest bomb ever detonated, at 50 megatons. The U.S has bombs ranging in yield of 0.01 Kilotons, to about 1 Megaton. The reason for 1 megaton, is that there is no real benefit of having them any bigger.

The cloud from an atomic bomb explosion can typically be seen from dozens to hundreds of miles away, depending on the size of the explosion and atmospheric conditions. The cloud can linger in the sky for hours or even days, spreading further due to wind patterns.

No, a nuclear bomb explosion wouldn't directly cause a hole in the ozone layer. Ozone depletion is primarily caused by human-made chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) rather than nuclear explosions. However, nuclear tests can release some ozone-depleting substances like nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere.

A nuclear blast is unlikely to have a significant impact on a hurricane. The energy released from a nuclear blast is far less compared to the energy of a hurricane. The hurricane's strong winds and dynamics would likely dissipate or diminish the effects of the blast.

Variable yield, colloquially known as dial-a-yield, works by modifying a variety of factors which adjust the strength of the nuclear (or thermonuclear) explosion.

Most modern nuclear weapons are boosted weapons which contain a hollow-pit. There is a tank with some quantity of deuterium / tritium gas mixture which is injected into the hollow pit to increase the yield of the primary before detonation. The amount of gas can be adjusted, increasing or decreasing the yield of the primary.

Also, the timing, duration and intensity of the neutron beam fired into the core upon compression of the primary, can be adjusted as well, which can also affect the yield of the primary detonation.

Another proposed method involves firing the primary at such a low yield, preventing a fusion reaction from starting in the weapon's secondary. There may also be a means to control the amount of radiation or plasma sent to the secondary by means of the interstage assembly to allow the secondary to ignite (or not).

In earlier weapons, sometimes the secondary was removed, or the primary was augmented with rings of fissile material around the primary, which would have increased the amount of fissile material in the weapons. These adjustments would have been done when the weapon was assembled, producing the various types of mods where one weapon in the same class would have a significantly different yield than another weapon sharing the same pit, explosive package, etc.

There is currently no evidence to suggest that a hydrogen bomb has been used in Afghanistan. The conflict in Afghanistan is primarily fought using conventional weapons such as firearms, explosives, and missiles. The use of a hydrogen bomb would have widespread and devastating consequences far beyond the immediate area of conflict.

It is currently impossible to blow up the Earth using nuclear weapons as the planet is too large and the energy required would be immense. Additionally, detonating a large number of nuclear weapons on Earth could have catastrophic consequences for all life on the planet.

No, a single nuclear bomb could not wipe out the Earth. However, it could cause catastrophic damage to a specific area and have long-lasting consequences such as radiation effects and environmental contamination.

Nuclear weapons can have detrimental effects on the atmosphere through the release of radioactive particles and chemicals. They can also contaminate the hydrosphere through fallout deposition and water pollution. The lithosphere can be impacted by ground disturbances, such as cratering and soil contamination. Additionally, nuclear weapons can disrupt ecosystems and harm biodiversity in the biosphere through radioactive contamination and habitat destruction.

uranium is extremely important. one isotope (look it up), uranium 235, is used in nuclear plants, and uranium 238 is used in in any thing from weights to high penetration tank shells and tank armor. the second, called spent uranium, is perfectly safe but is still legally considered toxic.