Atomic bomb: Difference between revisions

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And, when a critical mass is brought together suddenly, forcing a very large fraction of the unstable radioactive nuclei to fission, almost simultaneously, it would result in a massive explosion.
And, when a critical mass is brought together suddenly, forcing a very large fraction of the unstable radioactive nuclei to fission, almost simultaneously, it would result in a massive explosion.


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==References==
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Up until the test of the first atomic bomb, in [[Los Alamos]], the largest man-made explosion had been the explosion of several thousand tons that were all on single ship, in [[Halifax]], during [[World War I]].  That explosion flattened much of the city center and caused about 500 deaths.
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Estimates of the yields of the USA's first simple fission bombs were the equivalent of 10-20,000 tons of [[TNT]].
 
Following victory in World War II some nations continued to develop and test atomic bombs that harnessed both fission and [[Hydrogen Fusion]] that were the equivalent of millions of tons of TNT.
 
The yields of the most commonly fielded nuclear weapons are in the 400 kiloton range. 
 
==The non-proliferation treaty==
 
The [[Soviet Union]] was the second nation to successfully test an atomic weapon, in 1949.  The [[United Kingdom]], [[France]] and China each developed atomic weapons, before most nations signed the non-proliferation treaty]].
 
In the treaty those nations that did not yet possess nuclear weapons agreed they would not develop them.  The treaty called this the prevention fo "horizontal proliferation".
 
In return the nations that had developed weapons agreed to share the benefits of the peaceful use of atomic energy with those other nations, and they promised that they would not expand the number or sophistication of their nuclear arsenals - "vertical proliferation".
 
Nuclear armed nations ignored their promise, and both continued to increase the size of their arsenals, and the sophistication of their weapons.
 
Other than building nuclear reactors, for profit, in foreign countries, little effort was made to share the benefits of the peaceful use of atomic energy.  At one time the United States had proposals to use atomic explosions for excavation - as an instance of peacefully sharing the benefits of atomic energy.  One plan was to bury a string of hundreds of nuclear bombs across [[Panama]], and then detonate them all at once.  This would result in a single deep trench.  This was described as a benefit as it could build a second [[Panama Canal]] - this time at [[sea level]], so ships passing through the canal would not need to go through locks.  However, proponents forgot this plan would have released as much radioactive fallout as a full-scale nuclear war.
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An atomic bomb is the name given to a device designed to produce an enormous explosion by harnessing nuclear energy.

The United States of America was the first nation to produce atomic bombs. So far, two bombs the United States dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in the closing days of World War II, have been the only military uses of atomic weapons.

The first atomic bombs, like the two dropped on Japan, relied on producing a chain reaction of fissioning radioactive nuclei. Atoms of the heaviest elements found in nature, like Uranium and Thorium, have no stable isotopes. All isotopes are radioactive.

The radioactive isotopes of Uranium and Thorium have relatively long half-lives, measured in the millions of years. However, as Leo Szilard was the first to note, an atom of Uranium 235 could be stimulated to fission, if it was struck by a slow neutron. This fission of the Uranium nuclei into two smaller atoms releases a very large amount of energy - and another neutron. Szilard suggested that, if a large enough mass of relatively pure Uranium 235, were gathered in a single place, neutrons released by the fission of some atoms would stimulate the fissioning of other atoms. He called this a "critical mass".

He described how, if this fissioning could be controlled, it could be an extremely useful source of energy. The mechanism for harnessing this kind of energy is now called a nuclear reactor.

And, when a critical mass is brought together suddenly, forcing a very large fraction of the unstable radioactive nuclei to fission, almost simultaneously, it would result in a massive explosion.

References

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