I need to describe a Hydrogen bomb to a 3rd grader in a report I'm doing, but saying, "A nuclear weapon that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions of fusion or fission," would not be understandable by the average 3rd grader.
2007-10-02 10:28:18 · 5 answers · asked by minicruzer911 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
big bada boom!
Just explain is a Type of weapon that uses radiactive material (like in the movies etc), it causes a Atoms nucleus (small) to break open causing a chain reaction and a massive explosion, many thousand times bigger then a normal bomb. IE would distroy a city in one
2007-10-02 10:47:21 · answer #1 · answered by jim j 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
its a bomb that works by melting together two pieces. this melting creates so much energy that it explodes in a very very very big explosion, that could level a city with 1 blast.
p.s. the H-bomb derives its porver from both fission and fusion, not either or or. the fission reaction is used to create enough energy to start the fusion reaction in the hydrogin. which is why the h-bomb has a 2 step explosion.
the largest atomic bomb ever detonated was a russian h-bomb above nova zembla, its blastwave circumvented the earth 3 times.
2007-10-02 17:59:56 · answer #2 · answered by mrzwink 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Maybe not for the average 5th ... 9th ... 12th grader.
An atomic bomb uses explosives to force uranium into a tight mass where the big heavy molecules are broken apart by all the neutrons in a small volume attacking them and energy is given off in the splitting - like taking a hand full of shelled peanuts and squeezing them so they break into halves and pieces..
A hydrogen bomb uses an atomic bomb to force light hydrogen molecules together and when they merge they give off even more energy. Sort of like squeezing even harder on the peanuts to get peanut butter.
2007-10-02 17:38:52 · answer #3 · answered by Mike1942f 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Easy...
Conventional bomb: "boom!"
Atom bomb: "Booooooooom!"
Thermonuclear bomb: "BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Beyond that, there is little a third grader needs to know about thermonuclear weapons design. Maybe it helps to mention that while we have a lot of them, they were never used because the effect on any target is so horrible that thermonuclear war is better left a theoretical possibility than tested as a military option.
2007-10-02 17:38:03 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
do they really wanna know ? I know from experience I was a lot happier before I learned about wmd , give 'em a break
2007-10-02 17:46:04 · answer #5 · answered by Garry 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋