FYI logo

Why Is Hydrogen Bomb Stronger Than Atom Bomb?

Why Is Hydrogen Bomb Stronger Than Atom Bomb?

By Kandel gitaPublished 3 years ago 4 min read
Like
Why Is Hydrogen Bomb Stronger Than Atom Bomb?
Photo by Mehdi on Unsplash

Hydrogen bombs use the fusion of atomic nuclei to produce explosive energy. Like a nuclear power plant, atomic bombs are based on fission. Nuclear fission is carried out to generate more energy, which is then used to initiate nuclear fusion.

According to several nuclear experts, hydrogen bombs can be 1,000 times stronger than an atomic bomb. Here is an example of how destructive a hydrogen bomb could be to an atomic bomb, calculated by Nukemap, a tool developed by nuclear weapons historian Alex Wellerstein.

The US saw the scale of a hydrogen bomb in 1954 first when it tested one on itself, the New York Times reported. A hydrogen bomb would cause a much larger explosion, meaning the shock wave, explosion, heat and radiation would be much larger and reach far beyond an atomic bomb, said Edward Morse, professor of nuclear engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.

The entire series of explosions in a thermonuclear bomb takes only a fraction of a second to complete. To amplify this, atomic bombs contain a small amount of hydrogen isotopes, which trigger a small fusion reaction. Unlike fission, this increases the overall power of the nuclear explosion.

In 2013, South Korea's Defense Ministry speculated that North Korea was trying to develop a hydrogen bomb for its next nuclear test. Initial seismic data from the explosions suggested that they were orders of magnitude larger than North Korea's previous nuclear tests, and some scientists thought it possible that the country had actually developed a real H-bomb.

On September 3, 2017, the country's state media reported that a hydrogen bomb test had been carried out and the results were a "perfect success.". North Korea's state radio said Sunday that the country had run a test of a "hydrogen bomb drew on its new intercontinental ballistic missile.

North Korea announced Sunday that it had conducted a nuclear test with an advanced hydrogen bomb known as a thermonuclear bomb, which was a departure from its experiments with the first nuclear weapons. The North warned earlier this week that it was testing a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific, but said it had not yet detonated one. In January 2016, the country announced its first hydrogen bomb test, a major step forward in its nuclear program that drew international condemnation.

Hydrogen bombs have never been used in a war between countries, but experts say they have the power to wipe out whole cities and kill more people than the most powerful atomic bombs dropped on Japan by the US during World War II to kill tens of thousands. A thermonuclear weapon - a fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb or H-bomb - is a nuclear weapons of second generation design. Its greater sophistication gives it greater destructive power than the first-generation atomic bomb, but also a smaller size and mass - a combination that has advantages.

The difference between a thermonuclear bomb and a fission bomb starts at the atomic level. Therefore, thermonuclear weapons are sometimes referred to as hydrogen bombs or H-bombs.

The explosive power of an atomic bomb is measured in kilotons, a unit equivalent to 1,000 tonnes of TNT. When detonated, a hydrogen bomb has an explosive power of over 50 megatons, and the explosive power of a weapon mounted on a strategic missile can range from 100 kilotons to 15 megatons. A thermonuclear bomb can be smaller than a few feet and fit into the warhead of an intercontinental ballistic missile, but these missiles can fly around the world in 20 to 25 minutes and computer-guided guidance systems are so precise they can land within a few hundred yards of a specific target.

Making an H-bomb small enough to fit inside a nuclear warhead that can wreak havoc is difficult. H-bombs are reinforced fission bombs that release an explosion of strong X-rays instead of focused fusion bombs.

According to a new study published in Nature, when two tiny particles collide to produce a quark explosion, there is eight times more energy in the reaction than the force of a hydrogen bomb. In fact, the co-authors of the papers told Live Science that they are considering not publishing the discovery because the collision generated so much energy. The discovery is cool because she believes there is a way to exploit a powerful explosion without harming anyone, even if it is tiny.

The atomic bombs called Little Boy and Fat Man dropped at the end of the World War II on Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused widespread destruction that razed both cities to the ground, killing 90,000 to 166,000 people in Hiroshima, 20,000 soldiers and 39,000 to 80,000 in Nagasaki. They were the only two nuclear weapons ever used in warfare and let us hope that this remains the case, because nuclear weapons are now more than 3,000 times stronger than the atomic bombs dropped on the two cities. Both the atomic bombs Little Boy and Fat Man were fission bombs that triggered a chain reaction of fission.

Preparations for the George were underway when mathematician Stanislav Ulam made a breakthrough in the construction of a hydrogen bomb. The George used a larger atomic bomb with a smaller amount of hydrogen fuel to make sure it would work.

He proposed putting the atomic bomb in a hydrogen fuel shell that would reflect the enormous flow of neutrons released by the explosion of an atomic bomb. He also proposed to surround the hydrogen fuel material to increase the energy of the neutron flux. Ulam realized that instead of relying on the thermal design of classic, super-initiated thermonuclear reactions, neutrons could be used to compress deuterium and tritium, triggering a fusion reaction.

Without the energy released in a certain period of time, the sun and the atomic bomb would be hit by a large distance in this measurement. With such enormous energy differences, it seems to be a mistake to conclude that the temperature of the atomic bombs is many times higher than that of the solar center. The energy is energy per unit of time explains why the hydrogen bomb reaches a much higher temperature than the core of the sun.

Science
Like

About the Creator

Kandel gita

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.