Introduction:
The first bombs that were built used a concept called nuclear
fission, or the splitting of atoms. After scientific research,
it was discovered that even more mass can be converted to
energy by combining atoms together, or fusing them. This is
where the term nuclear fusion comes from.
How does it work?
To figure out why energy can be released by nuclear fusion, we
must first look at Einstein's equation, E=MC2. When you
combine two light atoms to form one heavy atom, the mass of
the heavy atom by itself is less than the mass of both of the
light atoms added together. This remaining mass is converted
to energy. From Einstein's equation that was stated above, we
can see that the amount of energy released is equal to the
amount of left over mass times the speed of light
squared.
Is a fusion reaction easy to produce??
There is a problem with generating a fusion reaction. Trying
to fuse atoms together is like trying to push together the
positive ends of two strong magnets. As the magnets get closer
to each other, the repulsive forces become stronger and
stronger and it takes more work to get the magnets any closer
together. Try to imagine this on an atomic level. In order to
push two light nuclei together (they have the same charge),
you need to overcome the electrostatic repulsion of the two
particles. This requires a lot of energy.
How do we make this into a bomb?
A nuclear fusion reaction takes a lot of energy as was stated
in the paragraph above. We can get this amount of energy from
a nuclear fission reaction. What happens is that the nuclear
fission reaction is set off, which generates enough energy for
the two light nuclei to overcome the electrostatic repulsion
forces and fuse together. To summarize, a nuclear fusion bomb
requires two reactions, a fission reaction and a fusion
reaction. Sometimes fusion bombs are made with a uranium
casing, so that the explosion will make the casing fissile,
creating a fission-fusion-fission bomb.
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