Saturday, January 18, 2020

The Hydrogen Bomb

The hydrogen bomb, also known as the h-bomb or thermonuclear bomb, was in the works as early as the 1940's, when Italian physicist, Enrico Fermi, explained the concept of the hydrogen bomb to Edward Teller, who was part of the Manhattan Project. Although Teller also advocated for the creation of the hydrogen bomb, it was ultimately dropped as the atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima had satisfactory results. The idea of the hydrogen bomb withered until 1949, when the Soviet Union successfully detonated an atomic bomb. This prompted President Truman to order the creation of the hydrogen bomb.

The h-bomb is comprised of uranium, plutonium, and the hydrogen isotopes, deuterium and tritium, which are fused into helium. The hydrogen bomb contains both a fission and fusion bomb. There are two stages: the primary and secondary stage. The primary stage is the detonation of the fission bomb, and the secondary stage is the detonation of the fusion bomb. When the fusion bomb detonates, the explosion causes temperatures to arise to several million degrees, and produces a ten million ton yield. It causes a bigger explosion, which means that the blast, heat, radiation, and shock waves have a longer reach. The atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki damaged everything within a mile radius. The hydrogen bomb has the capability to damage everything between five and ten miles.

Image result for the mike test
On November 1, 1952, the US conducted their first test, the MIKE test. It was tested in the Pacific in the Enewetak Atoll in the Marshal Islands. The 82 ton bomb produced an explosion equivalent to 10.4-megatons of TNT, with its cloud about 100 miles wide and 25 miles high, and vaporizing everything within its blast radius. Although it was not a deliverable weapon, It showed what the bomb was capable of, which caused many, including Enrico Fermi, to be against the use of the hydrogen bomb, as they observed that its destructiveness had no limit.

The largest hydrogen bomb to have been tested was the "Tsar Bomba". It was tested on October 30, 1961 over Novaya Zemlya Island in the Russian Arctic Sea by the Soviet Union. What differed between a typical hydrogen bomb and the Tsar Bomba was that the Tsar Bomb had three stages instead of two. The additional stage increased the bomb's explosiveness, which allowed it to have the yield of 50Mt (megaton). The actual yield of the bomb was 100Mt, but was halved to limit radioactive dust.

Only a handful of countries are in possession of these bombs, the two main ones being Russia and the US. Some countries have placed restrictions on the use of nuclear weapons, two of them being the No First Use policy and the Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).

1 comment:

  1. It is interesting that the largest hydrogen bomb was as early as 1961 given all of the technological advancements humanity has made since then. Even today, there are still only a few countries in the world that have nuclear weapons. Only nine to be exact. These weapons are pretty expensive and most countries don't feel they need to blow all that money. It isn't worth it in their eyes. There are a few countries that are part of the NATO nuclear sharing plan so they will still have access to nuclear weapons if there is ever a time they would need to use them.

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