atomic bomb is one of the most amazing, mysterious and scary process.The principle of operation is based on the nuclear chain reaction.It is this process, the very course which initiates its continuation.The principle of operation of the hydrogen bomb is based on nuclear fusion.
atomic bomb
nuclei of certain isotopes of radioactive elements (plutonium, California, uranium and others) are able to disintegrate, thus capturing a neutron.Thereafter stands still two or three neutrons.The destruction of one atom of nucleus under ideal conditions can lead to the disintegration of the two or three more, which in turn may initiate other atoms.And so on.There is an avalanche process of destruction of a growing number of nuclei to release the amount of energy giant break atomic bonds.With the explosion of enormous energy released for ultra-small period of time.This occurs at a single point.Therefore, the explosion of the atomic bomb is so powerful and destructive.
to initiate the chain reaction it is necessary that the amount of radioactive material exceeds the critical mass.Obviously, the need to take several pieces of uranium or plutonium and connect in one whole.However, in order to cause an explosion of an atomic bomb, it is not enough because the reaction stops before allocate sufficient amount of energy, or the process will be slow.In order to succeed, it is necessary not to exceed a critical mass of material, and to do this in very short time interval.It is best to use some critical mass.This is achieved by the use of other explosives.And alternate fast and slow explosives.
first nuclear test was conducted in July 1945 in the United States near the town Almogordo.In August of the same year, the Americans used these weapons against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.The explosion of the atomic bomb in the city led to the terrible destruction and loss of most of the population.In the USSR nuclear weapons were created and tested in 1949.
hydrogen bomb
hydrogen bomb is a weapon with a very high destructive power.The principle of its action is based on the fusion reaction, which is a synthesis of the lighter atoms of helium nuclei of heavy hydrogen.Thus there is a release very large amounts of energy.This reaction is similar to the process that takes place in the Sun and other stars.Fusion easiest passes with isotopes of hydrogen (tritium, deuterium) and lithium.
test first hydrogen warhead Americans spent in 1952.In the modern sense of this device is hardly a bomb.It was a three-story building filled with liquid deuterium.The first explosion of a hydrogen bomb in the USSR was made six months later.Soviet thermonuclear warhead RDS-6 blew up in August 1953 near Semipalatinsk.The largest hydrogen bomb capacity of 50 megatons (Tsar Bomb) Soviet Union experienced in 1961.Wave after the explosion of ammunition circled the planet three times.
