The Secret of the Atomic and Hydrogen Bomb



Have you ever wondered how can such a small object can create such devastating chaos and harm? How can it annhilate so much life and create so many diseases? How did it destroy Hiroshima? You will learn the secrets of the atomic and nuclear bomb here.

There is definetly science behind all this powerful destructive technology. The whole bomb revolves around science, chemistry and physics. Let's begin with the atomic bomb for starters.


The atomic bomb can also be referred to as a fission bomb. Firstly, take a look at the components: uranium (235) and/or plutonium (239). These are radioactive material. What are radioactive material? Stating it as a radioactive material means it gives off energy or neutrons by breaking into smaller versions of itself.. The cause of this release of neutrons over a slow course of time is because of its decaying properties. These elements are unstable therefore they sometimes "let-go" one of their neutrons. This radiation will damage human cells, so it is very dangerous. If enough unstable atoms break up together the material will ?warm up? but its not what we consider an explosion. In the bomb itself, it changes that.

The insides of the weapon is encased in a TNT material capable of exploding on any desired trigger. When this TNT explodes around the fissionable material, the material within, such as the radioactive plutonium, will be compressed and densely packed together. Now that it is tightly packed, a decaying atom will release its neutron, but not without bumping into another atom. Whenever the neutron hits an atom, it break down too. This atom in turn breaks apart with more energy and power and releases even more neutrons, this way it starts a giant chain reaction between all the unstable material. Within a very short time, these atoms break down releasing an enormous amount of energy. This energy was what was launched on Hiroshima.

This fission technology is used in nuclear power plants where the unstable elements are allowed to decay quickly and releasing heat and energy, which is lowered into a neutron absorbing material, such as water to save it from a chain reaction and explosion. This in turn heats water for thermo energy.

Fusion technology is even more powerful. This is used in the Hydrogen Bomb which is a nastier bomb. Since fusion is hard to get and requires more energy to fuse elements together, TNT cannot be used. Instead, the hydrogen bomb requires fission energy to set it off. So basically, atomic bombs trigger this weapon of mass destruction.

The core of the bomb is made up of two different types of atoms, which are both isotopes of hydrogen -- deuterium and tritium, which are hydrogen atoms with an extra atom or two in them. Mini atomic bombs are ?scattered? outside of the deuterium and tritium. These small atomic bombs then undergo nuclear fission which releases a large amount of energy causing the core hydrogen isotopes to be compressed into a highly dense mass resulting in nuclear fusion --- what happens in the Sun. The deuterium and tritium combine or fuse to form helium nuclei. This results in the first explosion of nuclear fission then nuclear fusion, wait, but there?s even more! This hydrogen bomb?s outer shell is made out of uranium which also is radioactive. This causes the internal explosion to set off the bomb?s shell in another process of nuclear fission. Basically, an atomic bomb sets off a fusion bomb which sets off another atomic bomb. This results in a gigantic amount of energy making it more powerful than ever. This type of explosives? power is equivalent of many millions of tons of TNT. If a hydrogen bomb didn?t have the uranium casing it is called a neutron bomb, which is ?cleaner? because it doesn?t leave so much radioactive material in the area.

visit howstuffworks.com for more information.

Copyright Steven Lee 2004