What is the difference between a nuclear and a atomic bomb?

Answer 1

The Atom Bomb is a nuclear bomb !
A nuclear weapon is a weapon which derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions of fission or fusion. As a result, even a nuclear weapon with a relatively small yield is significantly more powerful than the largest conventional explosives, and a single weapon is capable of destroying an entire city.
The first nuclear weapon to be put to use was the atom bomb dropped over Hiroshima, Japan - during the Second World War.

Answer 2

An atomic bomb is a nuclear bomb. You might have been confused because we also have hydrogen bombs and thermonuclear bombs.

An atomic bomb is the least powerful and most primitive of the bunch. That was the kind used at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

A hydrogen bomb is the next step up the ladder. I believe one was tested at the Bikini atoll. Much more powerful. It actually uses hydrogen in the explosion.

A thermonuclear bomb has been defined by someone else. More powerful than a hydrogen bomb.

There is also a neutron bomb. This may not have been fully developed, but it was supposed to leave structures standing and wipe out anything organic. It's been used in science fiction, but I'm not sure one was ever actually tested.

They are all nuclear weapons.

By the way, did you know fish would still be safe to eat after a nuclear blast? Did you know that gamma radiation (the most deadly type) would only last three to four days? Did you know that alpha radiation would fall within two thousand feet of ground zero and has a half life of a thousand plus years?

The things I learned at the supper table.....

Answer 3

I already answered this same question once before for someone. Well, that was probably long ago.

Atomic, nuclear, theromonuclear, are all similar names, but there are only two processes that take place: fission or fusion.

Fission is the process where the nucleus of an atom splits, giving off lots of energy, and forming smaller, lighter atoms.

Fusion is the process where nuclei (plural of nucleus) of small atoms join to form larger, heavier atoms, and give off lots of energy in the process.

Uranium or plutonium can be used to make a fission bomb. The first two nuclear devices (and please, God, the last!) used in warfare were the Fat Man and the Little Boy, which were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. One was a uranium bomb, the other was a plutonium bomb, but they were both fission devices. Their energy output was measured in kilotons (thousands of TONS) of TNT.

For comparison purposes, the largest conventional bomb ever made was equivalent to 15,000 POUNDS of TNT, or 7.5 tons. The Little Boy and Fat Man yielded explosive power of about twelve to fifteen thousand tons, or equal to about two thousand of those biggest conventional bombs.

Later, scientists figured that they could make a fusion explosion, if they had some way to get a temperature of millions of degrees. That could only be done with a fission explosion, so it takes a fission explosion to set off a fusion explosion. This large amount of heat is why fusion devices are called thermo-nuclear bombs. They are also called hydrogen bombs, because light atoms of hydrogen are fused to create helium in the process.

Fusion bombs can be made much more powerful than fission bombs. They are rated in megatons, or millions of tons of TNT. The famous picture of a fusion bomb test in the Pacific with the mushroom cloud dwarfing the decomissioned battleships used as test targets was a twenty or fifty megaton explosion.

The largest explosion that has yet been set off was one in Siberia which was about 100 megatons. Satellite pictures showed that there had previously been a small town there, and not a test site. It is likely that the Soviet Union had an "accident" at the manufacturing plant for their fusion bombs. But they won't own up to it.

Cobalt bombs have not been used. They are designed to greatly increase the amount of fallout by wrapping ordinary cobalt around the bomb and turn it into cobalt-60 when the bomb goes off, which gives off dangerous gamma rays.

Neutron bombs had been designed but not used which are intended to be set off high above and city and the radiation alone will kill the people, without destroying the buildings of the city.

The gamma bomb is a name used in Marvel Comics, which turned Bruce Banner into the Hulk. In reality, nobody could survive a nuclear explosion, of any kind, if they were directly exposed to it like that.

I hope this explains what you need to know. I can't give you any classified details.

Answer 4

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The atom is the smallest identifiable unit of matter. It has a nucleus which contains one or more protons and then one or more electrons orbiting in outer layers. The word nuclear in the phrase 'nuclear bomb' means 'involving or related to atomic nuclei or an atomic nucleus'. The phrase in that sense can be used interchangeably with 'atomic bomb'. The two terms are synonymous when modifying energy and weapons terms. However, when talking about energy level or physics, nuclear denotes the dynamics of particles in the core of an atom, including the protons and neutrons. When talking about energy level, physics, or chemistry, atomic denotes the configuration of electrons that determines the chemistry of an atom and the dynamics of the particles in the outer layer, the electrons. In describing weapons, though, nuclear is a general term for weapons that release energy from nuclear reactions. Atomic refers to the earliest and least sophisticated weapons, which use nuclear fission. Then there is thermonuclear. Thermonuclear weapons use nuclear fusion, which results when the nuclei of hydrogen isotopes merge and release energy. Fusion takes place only at very high temperatures, so thermonuclear devices first set off a fission reaction, which triggers the fusion; some weapons have two fusion stages, the first initiating the second. In describing physics, atomic physics deals with the properties of atoms, which are mainly due to their electron configuration. Nuclear physics, on the other hand, deals only with nuclei. It studies the structure of nuclei, and their reactions and interactions.

Answer 5

wish4b17 is full of crap!! There is no difference between a nuclear and an atomic bomb. The atomic bomb IS a nuclear bomb!

now if you want to compare a uranium bomb and a hydrogen bomb, there is a great difference. A uranium bomb relies upon nuclear fission to release its energy. A hydrogen bomb utilizes nuclear fusion to release its energy. The difference in the energy released by a fusion bomb is several orders of magnitude greater than a fission bomb!

Answer 6

In general public opinion they are probably considered the same thing. However, "Atomic bomb" describes a bomb that relies on nuclear fission alone for the huge energy output that results in an explosion. A thermonuclear bomb, uses the same principle but extends it with additional materials arranged intelligently to result in fusion for its ultimate energy output. Thermonuclear devices are orders of magnitude more powerful than the first atomic bombs and bombs relying on fission alone.

Atomic bombs and thermonuclear bombs are both considered nuclear weapons or nuclear bombs, but there is a difference in concept between them. Not all nuclear weapons are atomic bombs, but all atomic bombs are nuclear weapons. This is because there is more than one type of nuclear bomb.

Answer 7

An atomic bomb can take out a city a nuclear could pretty much take out a state.

Answer 8

The time period nuclear bombs isn't used very commonly. extra hassle-free is the time period atomic bomb(s). commonly the time period nuclear guns is used rather. There are 2 sorts of atomic bombs (nulcear guns). One makes use of nuclear fission (splitting of the nucleus into 2) and one makes use of nuclear fusion (combining 2 nuclei into one). Fission bombs commonly use heavy aspects consisting of uranium or plutonium, and fusion bombs use hydrogen (actually deuterium and tritium or heavy isotopes of hydrogen with 2 and three neutrons respectively rather of the traditional one). So fusion bombs are also said as hydrogen bombs.

Answer 9

They are both exactly the same thing. According to Einstein's e=mc2 equation Energy = Mass x Speed of light Squared. Using this formula they found a way to change mass into energy by splitting the atom.

Answer 10

about 50 degrees Fahrenheit
watch out for your microwave oven as cooking times may vary.