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A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lower mass, or a combination of these benefits. Characteristics of nuclear fusion reactions make possible ...
Nuclear weapon design. Appearance. The first nuclear explosive devices provided the basic building blocks of future weapons. Pictured is the Gadget device being prepared for the Trinity nuclear test. Nuclear weapon designs are physical, chemical, and engineering arrangements that cause the physics package [ 1 ] of a nuclear weapon to detonate.
The United States is known to have possessed three types of weapons of mass destruction: nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.As the country that invented nuclear weapons, the U.S. is the only country to have used nuclear weapons on another country, when it detonated two atomic bombs over two Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.
Nuclear disarmament in international law. The United States is one of the five nuclear weapons states with a declared nuclear arsenal under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), of which it was an original drafter and signatory on 1 July 1968 (ratified 5 March 1970). All signatories of the NPT agreed to refrain from ...
Mark 6 – Improved version of Mk-4. (8–160 kilotons, 1951–1962) Mark 7 – Multi-purpose tactical bomb. (8–61 kilotons, 1952–1967) Mark 8 – Gun-assembly, HEU weapon designed for penetrating hardened targets. (25–30 kilotons, 1951–1957) Mark 10 – Improved version of Mk-8 (12–15 kilotons, cancelled May 1952).
A nuclear weapon[a] is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb types release large quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter.
Fiveare considered to be nuclear-weapon states(NWS) under the terms of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons(NPT). In order of acquisition of nuclear weapons, these are the United States, Russia(the successor of the formerSoviet Union), the United Kingdom, France, and China. Of these, the three NATO members, the United Kingdom ...
The United Kingdom became a nuclear power in 1952, and its nuclear arsenal peaked at just under 500 nuclear weapons in 1981. France became a nuclear power in 1960, and French nuclear stockpiles peaked at just over 500 nuclear weapons in 1992. [ 1 ] China developed its first nuclear weapon in 1964; its nuclear stockpile increased until the early ...