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Death is highly likely and radiation poisoning is almost certain if one is caught in the open with no terrain or building masking effects within a radius of 0–3 kilometres (0.0–1.9 mi) from a 1 megaton airburst, and the 50% chance of death from the blast extends out to ~8 kilometres (5.0 mi) from the same 1 megaton atmospheric explosion.
Strong links, at least in US nuclear weapons, are always implemented as electro-mechanical systems such as motor-driven switches. [2] There are two main requirements: when functional, never to allow an invalid signals to penetrate the energy barrier, and never to fail in a way that can pass a signal though the barrier before the weak links inside the exclusion zone have also failed.
Typically in a modern weapon, the weapon's pit contains 3.5 to 4.5 kilograms (7.7 to 9.9 lb) of plutonium and at detonation produces approximately 5 to 10 kilotonnes of TNT (21 to 42 TJ) yield, representing the fissioning of approximately 0.5 kilograms (1.1 lb) of plutonium. [10] [11] Materials which can sustain a chain reaction are called fissile
Explosion of unserviceable ammunition and other military items The explosion of the Castle Bravo nuclear bomb. An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume of a given amount of matter associated with an extreme outward release of energy , usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases .
The pits of the first nuclear weapons were solid, with an urchin neutron initiator in their center. The Gadget and Fat Man used pits made of 6.2 kg of solid hot pressed plutonium-gallium alloy (at 400 °C and 200 MPa in steel dies – 750 °F and 29,000 psi) half-spheres of 9.2 cm (3.6 in) diameter, with a 2.5 cm (1 in) internal cavity for the initiator.
The 50 curies of polonium generated about 0.1 watts of decay heat, noticeably warming the small sphere. [5] The grooves in the inner surface of the shell shaped the shock wave into jets by the Munroe effect, similar to a shaped charge, for fast and thorough mixing of the beryllium and polonium. As the Munroe effect is less reliable in linear ...
[2] [3] [4] In particular, it was used in 1940 to discover the photofission of uranium and thorium, [5] [6] and was most cited for certain nuclear physics measurements. [7] The Westinghouse Atom Smasher was intended to make measurements of nuclear reactions for research in nuclear power. [ 8 ]
The Shrimp device design later evolved into the Mark 21 nuclear bomb, of which 275 units were produced, weighing 17,600 pounds (8,000 kg) and measuring 12.5 feet (3.8 m) long and 58 inches (1.5 m) in diameter. This 18-megaton bomb was produced until July 1956. [62]