Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The thermonuclear Tsar Bomba was the most powerful bomb ever detonated. [6] As thermonuclear weapons represent the most efficient design for weapon energy yield in weapons with yields above 50 kilotons of TNT (210 TJ), virtually all the nuclear weapons of this size deployed by the five nuclear-weapon states under the Non-Proliferation Treaty ...
Neutron bombs would have been used if the REFORGER conventional response of NATO to the invasion was too slow or ineffective. [4] [36] Neutron bombs are purposely designed with explosive yields lower than other nuclear weapons. Since neutrons are scattered and absorbed by air, [2] neutron radiation effects drop off rapidly with distance in air.
A nuclear weapon [a] is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic 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.
After Truman ordered the crash program to develop the hydrogen bomb in January 1950, the Boston Daily Globe published a cutaway description of a hypothetical hydrogen bomb with the caption Artist's conception of how H-bomb might work using atomic bomb as a mere "trigger" to generate enough heat to set up the H-bomb's "thermonuclear fusion" process.
Internal nuclear components of the B61 bomb. The bomb was assembled at the Burlington AEC Plant and Pantex. A Sandia document on the dates of the development phases of the US nuclear stockpile describes the B61-3 as an "improved Mod 2 w/IHE" and the B61-4 as "same as Mod 3 ex. Hi-Y". [22] The B61 Mod 3 and 4 bombs do not contain beryllium. [30]
In a nuclear weapon, a tamper is an optional layer of dense material surrounding the fissile material.It is used in nuclear weapon design to reduce the critical mass and to delay the expansion of the reacting material through its inertia, which delays the thermal expansion of the fissioning fuel mass, keeping it supercritical longer.
Mark 41 thermonuclear bomb casing at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. The B-41 (also known as Mk-41) was a thermonuclear weapon deployed by the United States Strategic Air Command in the early 1960s. It was the most powerful nuclear bomb ever developed by the United States, with a maximum yield of 25 megatons of TNT (100 ...
The Mark 15 nuclear bomb, or Mk-15, was a 1950s American thermonuclear bomb, the first relatively lightweight (7,600 lb (3,400 kg)) thermonuclear bomb created by the United States. A total of 1,200 Mark 15 bombs were produced from 1955 to 1957. There were three production variants: Mod 1, Mod 2, and Mod 3.