Thermonuclear bombs

Atoll in the Marshall Islands, located in the West Central Pacific Ocean. Although the atoll was obliterated, literally wiped off the face of the Earth, several heavy elements, both known and unknown at that time, were detected in the aftermath of the explosion by a team of scientists led by Albert Ghiorso of the Berkeley laboratory. Einsteinium was one of these trace elements that was detected. Its existence, as well as several other discovered elements, was not announced until 1955, due to secrecy related to this new type of thermonuclear bomb. The melting and boiling points as well as the density of einsteinium are not known because of the extremely small amounts that have been produced. 

The first Fusion Type Atomic Bomb (also known as Hydrogen Bomb, H—Bomb or Thermonuclear Bomb) was tested at Eniwetock and proved to be successful. The bomb was of several megatons (millions of tons of TNT equivalent) (Vol 1 of Encycl, p A499-L R)... 

A local contamination of soil with Pu isotopes and 241 Am from an (unexploded) atomic bomb impact was caused by collision of two US army aeroplanes during a mid-air refuelling operation in the Palomares area, southern Spain (details in Garcia-Olivares Iranzo 1997 Montero Sanchez 2001). The collision destroyed both planes and four thermonuclear bombs fell in the area, three onto the soil surface and one into the Mediterranean sea. Owing to the heavy impact, radioactive material was released into the environment, part of it as aerosols that were transported further downwind. In total, a region of 226 ha was contaminated from this accident. 

A still more powerful and dangerous bomb(hydrogen or thermonuclear bomb) was developed in the US after WWII. The British,French Russians now have the capability of manufg atomic hydrogen bombs and eventually all nations may possess the secret... 

Thus a Fusion Bomb, (Hydrogen or H Bomb, a Thermonuclear Bomb) must contain meun of initiating both types of atomic explosion The three bombs exploded during WWII — in the New Mexico desert on July 16, 1945, over Hiroshima on Aug 6, 1945, and over Nagasaki on Aug 9, 1945 — were all of the fission type and of tens of kiloton(thousands... 

The first US thermonuclear bomb was detonated near the ground at Bikini atoll in 1954, and much surface material was incorporated into the fireball, but most US and USSR thermonuclear tests were conducted at altitude, and relatively small amounts of material were vapourised. Consequently small particles were formed on condensation, and these have become attached to the general stratospheric aerosol (Harley, 1980). 

Almost as interesting is the role of lithium s lighter stable isotope, 6Li, in the production of the hydrogen bomb. The crucial tritium is produced by bombarding 6Li with neutrons 6Li + n -> 3H (tritium) + 4He. The radioactive tritium (3H) is a major fusion fuel when reacting with deuterium (2H) in the thermonuclear bomb. Because Li effectively absorbs neutrons it is also useful for neutron-shielding devices. 

The first Fusion Type Atomic Bomb (also known as Hydrogen Bomb, H-Bomb or Thermonuclear Bomb) was tested at Eniwetock... 

Hydrogen bomb—An nuclear explosive weapon which uses hydrogen isotopes as fuel and an atom bomb as a detonator. More powerful than an atom bomb, the Hydrogen bomb derives its destructive power from energy released when nuclei of hydrogen are forced together to form helium nuclei in a process called nuclear fusion. Also called H-bomb or Thermonuclear bomb. 

Fig. 8.8. A conceptual sketch of a thermonuclear bomb with a boosted fission primary to the left and a secondary fusion to the right within the chamber.

Deuterium or "Heavy Hydrogen . E>2 gas, mw 4.03 ft p 13.95° K, bp 20.57°K, d of liq 169g/liter was first isolated in concns sufficient for positive identification by Urey et al at Columbia Univ in 1931. Deuterium is a stable isotope and occurs in natural hydrogen, water and other H-bearing compds in an av abundance of 0.015 mole %. It is of interest to research workers as a tracer in biological processes in chem reactions. There is now commercial production of Deuterium Heavy Water (Ref 2). It has found use in military weapons as a constituent of thermonuclear bombs Refs 1) Partington (1950), 176 2) Kirk ... 

Fusion reactions are accompanied by even greater energy production per unit mass of reacting atoms than are fission reactions. They can be initiated only by extremely high temperatures, however. The fusion of H and occurs at the lowest temperature of any fusion reaction known, but even this is 40,000,000 K Such temperatures exist in the sun and other stars, but they are nearly impossible to achieve and contain on earth. Thermonuclear bombs (called fusion bombs or hydrogen bombs) of incredible energy have been detonated in tests but, thankfully, never in war. In them the necessary activation energy is supplied by the explosion of a fission bomb. 

The hydrogen bomb uses a similar type of fusion reaction as its source of energy. A conventional nuclear fission bomb is used as the heat source to start the fusion (thermonuclear) reaction. It may some day be possible to ignite a thermonuclear bomb reaction without a fission bomb, but at this time, no one has a practical notion as to how it might be accomplished. As a result, fusion reactors cannot lead to the production of hydrogen bombs. 

Basic assumption. One B-52 bomber (or its equivalent) can carry either one 20-megaton thermonuclear bomb or enough CW or BW agent to create the comparable results shown in the upper half of this table. 

There is no critical mass in a fusion bomb, and the force of the explosion is limited only by the quantity of reactants present. Thermonuclear bombs are described as being cleaner than atomic bombs because the only radioactive isotopes they produce are tritium, which is a weak /S-particle emitter (ti = 12.5 yr), and the products of the fission starter. Their damaging effects on the environment can be aggravated, however, by incorporating in the construction some nonfissionable material such as cobalt. Upon bombardment by neutrons, cobalt-59 is converted to cobalt-60, which is a very strong 7-ray emitter with a half-life of 5.2 yr. The presence of radioactive cobalt isotopes in the debris or fallout from a thermonuclear explosion would be fatal to those who survived the initial blast. 

Additionally, the C signal, introduced by atmospheric thermonuclear bomb tests at the end of the 60s, can be used to investigate turnover rates of SOM. This signal is often found in the upper... 

Finally, evidence of increased fossil fuel emission into the atmosphere can be seen in the general decrease in A " C from 1850 to 1955 in shallow corals from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This phenomenon, referred to as the Suess Effect, is mainly the result of " C-free CO2 produced from combusted fossil fuel entering the atmosphere, the oceans and eventually, the coral skeleton (post-1950, coral A " C values skyrocketed as a result of produced by thermonuclear bombs effectively swamping out the Suess effect). 

For millennia the tritium tent inthe nature was almost constant. In the atmospheric precipitation it was 3-5 TU. However, after 1954, because of the testing of thermonuclear bombs the tritium content increased by at least threeders ofthe me. Amoxmt The amount f tritium, which entered the biosphere after te testing, was hundreds of kilograms. 

Oppenheimer. .. continued to urge me with detailed and helpful advice to keep exploring what lay beyond the immediate aims of the laboratory. This was not easy advice to give, nor was it easy to take. It is easier to participate in the work of the scientific community, particularly when a goal of the highest interest and urgency has been clearly defined. Every one of us considered the present war and the completion of the A-bomb as the problems to which we wanted to contribute most. Nevertheless, Oppenheimer. .. and many of the most prominent men in the laboratory continued to say that the job at Los Alamos would not be complete if we should remain in doubt whether or not a thermonuclear bomb was feasible. 

Teller was thus back at weapons work when Harry Truman announced, on September 23, 1949, the explosion of Joe I, the first Soviet atomic bomb. Like most Americans, Teller had not expected the Soviet success so soon. He called Oppenheimer on the day the Soviet test was announced in a state of arousal sufficient to cause Oppenheimer to advise him sharply, Keep your shirt on. He testified later that his mind did not immediately turn in the direction of working on the thermonuclear bomb, but in fact he discussed that prospect intensely at Los Alamos early in October with Ernest Lawrence and Luis Alvarez, who encouraged him. The American nuclear monopoly had ended. The fabulous monster had real claws. If the Soviet Union had tested an atomic bomb, could a Soviet hydrogen bomb be far behind Teller decided that the only possible hope for continued national security was an all-out American effort to build the Super. 

Fusion reactions occur rapidly only when the temperature is of the order of 100 million °G or more. At these high temperatures, atoms do not exist as such instead, there is a plasma consisting of unbound nuclei and electrons. In this plasma nuclei can combine. The first fusion reactions that scientists were able to create artificially were produced in hydrogen bombs, or thermonuclear bombs. In a thermonuclear bomb, the high temperatures needed to initiate fusion are achieved by using the heat of a fission bomb (atomic bomb). 

On November 1,1952, the USA exploded a thermonuclear bomb over the atoll Eniwetok in the Pacific. A few hundreds of kilograms of the soil from the explosion site were collected with all possible precautions and taken to the USA. A group of scientists headed by Seaborg and Giorso carefully studied this radioactive debris. It was found to contain... 

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