how dose a nuclear bomb work ?

Question

i thought when the bomb hits it splits a atom thus making all the other adams explod around it am i right or wrong?

Answer 1

When two portions of U235 are brought together quickly to form a critical mass, the natural decay of the Uranium atoms begins a cascade of neutron particle generation. The neutrons are what break up other U235 atoms, which in turn release more neutrons to break up even more U235 atoms. This chain reaction quickly causes all of the U235 atoms to break apart.

As each atom breaks apart, in addition to it releasing neutrons, it also releases a tremendous amount of energy. That release of energy is what makes the atom bomb go boom.

Hydrogen bombs use a different means of triggering fusion reaction but with an even more larger release of energy.

The poster by the name of Moses is wrong about U238, which cannot be used in atomic weapons. That is why the Iranians are so very busy separating the U238 out of the U235, so they can make atomic weapons. They think, incorrectly, that is going to give them respect. Geez, are they in for a rude surprise!

Answer 2

There are some good explanations in reference 1, as below.

In the shortest possible terms, a nuclear bomb works from a cascade of neutrons causing other atoms to release more neutrons plus energy. These additional neutrons cause the release of still more, and so forth.

How the neutron reaction begins depends upon the type of device; in one type, a subcritical mass of radioactive material is compressed in a very precise way, causing it to go critical- sort of like squeezing a soccer ball from all directions at once. In another, two subcritical masses are driven together at very high speed, causing the combined mass to go critical. The current generation of fission weapons have a neutron generator; flip a switch, and the neutrons are released, starting the reaction.

Fusion weapons are similar, but quite different in many respects. For the purposes of discussion here, they have material that can be changed atomically to produce massive amounts of energy; current fusion weapons require a fission weapon to get the reaction started. These weapons use deuterium, tritium, or compounds of these isotopes to work.

Answer 3

Plutonium always undergo what is called spontaneous fission. This means that random atoms will always split, releasing neutrons.

Now, if you make the mass critical (that is, change its overall surface to volume and density ratio) most of those neutrons are not vented outside of the plutonium mass, but hit another plutonium atom instead, causing it to break into pieces, and releasing more neutrons. This is what is called a chain reaction. It quickly gets extremely energetic, essentially destroying itself in the process, but also destroying everything a fair distance around as well.

The hydrogen bomb uses a fission bomb (plutonium based, as described above) as a trigger, to get a canister of deuterium and tritium precursor hot enough so that it would fuse those atoms into helium, releasing a lot of energy.

These reactions are based on the fact that iron is about the most stable nucleon around. Anything lighter would release energy if it was made to grow, and everything heavier would also release energy if it was broken down into smaller atomic nucleus.

Answer 4

basically the first charge just has to set off one atom to fission (ie break apart into its component parts of protons and neutrons) with the subsequent release of the bonding energy. This set off a chain reaction where those neurtons blow apart other atoms and so on, and so on.

(fusion is the reverse process at the center of the sun, where hi energy "fuses" atoms together to create new ones)

The basic idea is quite simple, as always the devil is in the details.

Answer 5

using extreme heat the parts of an atom are split unleashing the force that holds them together(the strong force) also it causes a chain explosion

Answer 6

Through a process called fission.

Answer 7

You take two chunks of uranium 238 about the size of your fist and put one in each hand. Hold your arms wide apart then smack them together as hard as you can. KABOOOOOM!!

Answer 8

Kills many and make permananetly disables many others

Answer 9

it goes boom