After the discovery of the controlled fission reaction, there came many more inventions after that, such as the discovery of nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons are weapons (bombs) that use the fission or fusion of an element to create energy and cause destruction. The world’s first nuclear weapon was made out of plutonium and was tested in the desert of New Mexico.

The first time the world was exposed to the destruction of a nuclear weapon was during the Second World War. The war was finished in Europe, but the United States was still battling the Japanese in the Pacific. Millions of Americans were dying, and the war was taking a very long time, what seemed to be forever. The United States knew the destructive capacity of a nuclear warhead and they so desperately wanted to end the war that they decide to perform the first example of human destruction due to a nuclear weapon. On August 6th, 1945, the United States Air Force dropped an uranium fission bomb over Hiroshima, Japan. Almost instantly after the bomb was dropped, the hundreds of chain reactions lighted up the sky. The temperatures f the air went up to millions of degrees and the population was incinerated. Hundreds of Thousands of people died immediately or from radiation afterwards. Three days later, they dropped another bomb, one of plutonium, killing 40,000 people. This causes the Japanese to surrender on August 15th, 1945. However, the war was not over yet. There became a race to see which country was the most powerful, and had to the most nuclear weapons. This involved the two main superpowers, Russia and The United States. Many times this had lead to near nuclear war, which would have been absolutely devastating. For example,, one kilogram of fissionable uranium is equal to 7.3 * 107 kg of TNT. The nuclear explosive power that is carried by a single aircraft bomber is greater than the total power of destruction that was seen in the force of all of the wars that humans have ever seen. So, how is it possible for such a small amount of material to cause such a large amount of energy and destructive power? There are two major types of nuclear weapons. One uses nuclear fission, where as the other uses nuclear fusion.

        A fission bomb is the type of nuclear weapon that was used to end the Second World War. Two major substances that are used in nuclear fission bombs are uranium and plutonium due to their natural ability to break apart during a nuclear reaction. The amount of these substances used, varies with the isotope used. If U-236 is enriched to become the more fissionable U-235, then the critical mass is found to be much smaller. Sometimes, it can be as small as 15 kg, with the volume similar to that of a grapefruit. Basically, the bomb has two separate compartments, which both contain masses less than the critical mass. There is a barrier separating these two compartments. It is only removed during a chemical explosion. The reason for this is to prevent a premature reaction and detonation. At the time of detonation, a neutron ‘bullet’ is show from the first compartment into the next one. The two masses are now able to join together to form the critical mass. Now the reaction is free to proceed from there.

                                             This is a diagram of a nuclear fission bomb.

There are three main types of fusion bombs used by people in our world. The fusion bomb is a lot different from fission bombs, in that they are much more advanced and also much more devastating. However, fusion bombs use both fission and fusion in their use. Due to the high temperature required for fusion, a fission reaction occurs first to provide the necessary energy required for fusion to take place. Fission usually takes place in a material such as lithium. A neutron reacts with lithium-6 to make the form of hydrogen known as H-3 or tritium. Next, these molecules join with H-2 (deuterium). When this happens, helium is produced, along with neutrons and energy in the form of alpha particles. This type of bomb is known as a hydrogen bomb.

                                                 This is a diagram of a fusion bomb.

Use of a laser beam is required for the second type of nuclear fusion bomb. The laser can provide the necessary heat required for a fusion reaction to occur. This eliminates the need for a fission reaction to occur first. Both operate in the same way. However, this type of bomb is much more efficient, providing much less radiation to be produced, and therefore actually much safer. For example, a fusion bomb can destroy a target, but doesn’t make the surrounding area suffer and die due to radiation.

The last type of fusion bomb that is used by people is the neutron bomb. This type of bomb doesn’t produce a large explosion, but sends out a large amount of neutrons during the fusion reaction of H-2 and H-3. Structures within the direct area may receive some harm, but any structure more than 200 m away will remain unharmed. This bomb seems pretty harmless, but the real danger lies in the unseen property of the bomb. The neutrons will travel at very high speeds, and will be able to pass through some materials without having any effect, however, they do a great deal of harm to the body’s cells. Any organisms in the range of 1200m or less will have many of their body cells destroyed, and therefore they will die within hours, days, weeks or months. There is little radiation left behind, and therefore rebuilding after a neutron bomb attack can happen after a very short time. This can be very negative for man-kind however, due to the fact that if there is ever a nuclear war, this would be a very likely weapon of choice.

**If an atomic bomb hit your house, or somewhere near you house, what kind of a chance would you have to survive? To find out go to the following link**

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