How does hydrogen bomb work

In comparison, a hydrogen bomb is about fusion — fusing atomic nuclei together to combine into bigger ones. A hydrogen bomb, or a thermonuclear bomb, contains a fission weapon within it but there is a two-stage reaction process. It uses the energy from a primary nuclear fission to set off a subsequent fusion reaction. The energy released by fusion is three to four times greater than the energy released by fission, giving the "hydrogen" bomb, or H-bomb, more power.

The name comes from the fact that it uses a fusion of tritium and deuterium, hydrogen isotopes. Essentially, an H-bomb is only limited by the amount of hydrogen within it and can be made as powerful as its builder wishes it to be, making it a big threat should a perceived "rogue" state like North Korea develop one. The U. Then, in and , it detonated hydrogen bombs in the Marshall Islands. In , the U. However, more energy is released during the fusion process, which causes a bigger blast.

Morse said the atomic bombs dropped on Japan were each equivalent to just about 10, kilotons of TNT. Hydrogen bombs are also harder to produce but lighter in weight, meaning they could travel farther on top of a missile, according to experts. Both bombs are extremely lethal and have the power to kill people within seconds, as well as hours later due to radiation. Blasts from both bombs would also instantly burn wood structures to the ground, topple big buildings and render roads unusable.

LIFE magazine described such devastation in an article published on March 11, , on the aftermath of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan. Then the blast blew the broken bodies at to 1, miles per hour through the flaming, rubble-filled air. Practically everybody within a radius of 6, feet was killed or seriously injured and all buildings crushed or disemboweled. When a single free neutron strikes the nucleus of an atom of radioactive material like uranium or plutonium, it knocks two or three more neutrons free.

Energy is released when those neutrons split off from the nucleus, and the newly released neutrons strike other uranium or plutonium nuclei, splitting them in the same way, releasing more energy and more neutrons. This chain reaction spreads almost instantaneously. The material used was uranium It is believed that the fission of slightly less than one kilogram of uranium released energy equivalent to approximately 15, tons of TNT.

Compared to the one used on Hiroshima, the Nagasaki bomb was rounder and fatter. The material used was plutonium The fission of slightly more than one kilogram of plutonium is thought to have released destructive energy equivalent to about 21, tons of TNT.

It can be up to 1, times more powerful than an A-bomb, according to nuclear experts. North Korea tested atomic bombs back in , , and Their blasts were created using fission — the splitting of atoms into smaller ones. Heavy, radioactive forms of elements like plutonium and uranium are especially susceptible to do this.

Every fission or split of an atom releases a huge amount of energy. It's the same thing nuclear power plants use to generate energy for your home. However, if the atoms are quickly squashed very close together, a runaway effect can happen that rapidly splits many, many atoms almost all at once — and releases a catastrophic blast of energy.

Below is a Reuters illustration that shows two different models of atomic bombs. The goal of each is detonate traditional explosives tan to squeeze a fissionable material, like plutonium teal or uranium yellow , into a "supercritical" mass that splits atoms like crazy. The device on the left is an implosion-type fission bomb, like the Fat Man bomb detonated over Nagasaki, and it compresses everything inward. The one of right is a gun-type fission bomb, like Little Boy detonated over Hiroshima, which shoots the missing piece of a nuclear core right into the center to make it go supercritical:.