In laymans terms how does a nuclear weapon work?

Answer 1

Key concept is critical mass. Fissile material have a critical mass, which means that if you get enough of that fissile material (Uranium 235 or Plutonium 239) in a small enough compact volume, it will undergo chain reaction, which means that each atom that breaks down -- and some do all the time, that is why the material is radio-active -- will release neutrons that will break more atoms (in a sub-critical mass, on average, the neutrons leave the fissile mass instead of causing more trouble).

So, in a bomb, the mass of uranium or plutonium is shaped in such a way as to be sub-critical. It can be made in two lumps, or in a hollow sphere. Then conventional explosives, carefully positioned to achieve best effet, bring the parts together or crush the sphere into a critical mass, which explodes immediately.

Answer 2

You're splitting atoms (fission). Each time you split an atom, you break it into more atoms (smaller ones), a neutron or two, and some free energy. Certain isotopes of certain elements fission spontaneously, meaning they are naturally less stable and they'll split on their own. Many of these isotopes will also split when you hit them with a subatomic particle like a neutron. In nature, these isotopes split on their own and release that little bit of energy and that's it, because there aren't enough unstable isotopes around them. Any neutron released spontaneously flies off and hits nothing interesting.

For a nuclear bomb, you need a chain reaction. In other words, when you get a spontaneous fission, the neutrons released fly off and hit more unstable isotopes, which in turn fisssion, releasing more neutrons, which fly off and hit still more isotopes, releasing neutrons, and so on and so on. The trick is to achieve a high enough density of unstable isotopes in a small area, so that each fission event leads to more than one additional fission event. In other words, the number of fission events grows exponentially, and the energy released becomes very high very quickly.

Practically, the way to achieve this chain reaction is to bring sufficiently large masses of these unstable isotopes into a state of much higher density very rapidly. This is done with high explosives. For example the uranium bomb dropped on Hiroshima essentially amounted to a big gun barrel, with conventional high explosives at one end of the barrel with a "wedge" of uranium, and a big mass of uranium at the other end. Explosives go off, driving the wedge at a high velocity into the bigger mass of uranium at the other end. Instant high density leads to a chain reaction and nuclear explosion.

Answer 3

An atomic bomb converts a critical mass of an unstable element into energy by starting a chain reaction of atoms smashing atoms which continues until all of the mass is converted to energy. The chain reaction is usually initiated by an implosion of a conventional explosive. It is the proof positive that Albert Einstein's statement that mass and energy are interchangeable entities is correct / E=MC2.
E= energy
M=rest mass
C2= light speed squared - (a VERY large quantity)

Energy is equal to the rest Mass times the speed of light (C) squared.

Note: The speed of light is 'C' because it is considered the universal Constant.

Answer 4

Hi. An explosion forces radioactive material together in such a way that a chain reaction occurs, releasing energy from a few grams of matter following the E=Mc^2 formula.

Answer 5

You take a little ball of highly concentrated Uranium , maybe the
size of an orange or grapefruit...
You surround this Uranium ball with a ball of Dynamite a foot thick...
You then have a small ball inside surrounded by a big ball of dynamite..
You set off the dynamite and it smashes the Uranium togather and
puts it under very high pressure and high temperature which sets the Uranium off and it explodes...

Answer 6

You push a button and many, many people die.