Nuclear weapon atomic bomb. The history of the creation and principle of operation of the atomic bomb
The one who invented the atomic bomb could not even imagine what tragic consequences this miracle invention of the 20th century could lead to. Before this superweapon was experienced by the inhabitants of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a very long way had been done.
A start
In April 1903, Paul Langevin's friends gathered in the Parisian Garden of France. The reason was the defense of the dissertation of the young and talented scientist Marie Curie. Among the distinguished guests was the famous English physicist Sir Ernest Rutherford. In the midst of the fun, the lights were put out. announced to everyone that now there will be a surprise. With a solemn air, Pierre Curie brought in a small tube of radium salts, which shone with a green light, causing extraordinary delight among those present. In the future, the guests heatedly discussed the future of this phenomenon. Everyone agreed that thanks to radium, the acute problem of lack of energy would be solved. This inspired everyone to new research and further perspectives. If they were then told that laboratory works with radioactive elements will lay the foundation for a terrible weapon of the 20th century, it is not known what their reaction would be. That's when the story began atomic bomb that claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians.
Game ahead of the curve
On December 17, 1938, the German scientist Otto Gann obtained irrefutable evidence of the decay of uranium into smaller elementary particles. In fact, he managed to split the atom. In the scientific world, this was regarded as a new milestone in the history of mankind. Otto Gunn did not share Political Views third Reich. Therefore, in the same year, 1938, the scientist was forced to move to Stockholm, where, together with Friedrich Strassmann, he continued his scientific research. Fearing that fascist Germany will be the first to receive a terrible weapon, he writes a letter with a warning about this. The news of a possible lead greatly alarmed the US government. The Americans began to act quickly and decisively.
Who created the atomic bomb? American project
Even before the group, many of whom were refugees from the Nazi regime in Europe, was tasked with developing nuclear weapons. The initial research, it is worth noting, was carried out in Nazi Germany. In 1940, the government of the United States of America began funding its own program to develop atomic weapons. An incredible amount of two and a half billion dollars was allocated for the implementation of the project. Outstanding physicists of the 20th century were invited to carry out this secret project, including more than ten Nobel laureates. In total, about 130 thousand employees were involved, among whom were not only the military, but also civilians. The development team was led by Colonel Leslie Richard Groves, with Robert Oppenheimer as supervisor. He is the man who invented the atomic bomb. A special secret engineering building was built in the Manhattan area, which is known to us under the code name "Manhattan Project". Over the next few years, the scientists of the secret project worked on the problem of nuclear fission of uranium and plutonium.
Non-peaceful atom by Igor Kurchatov
Today, every schoolchild will be able to answer the question of who invented the atomic bomb in the Soviet Union. And then, in the early 30s of the last century, no one knew this.
In 1932, Academician Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov was one of the first in the world to start studying the atomic nucleus. Gathering like-minded people around him, Igor Vasilievich in 1937 created the first cyclotron in Europe. In the same year, he and his like-minded people create the first artificial nuclei.
In 1939, I. V. Kurchatov began to study a new direction - nuclear physics. After several laboratory successes in studying this phenomenon, the scientist gets at his disposal a secret research center, which was named "Laboratory No. 2". Today, this secret object is called "Arzamas-16".
The target direction of this center was a serious research and development of nuclear weapons. Now it becomes obvious who created the atomic bomb in the Soviet Union. There were only ten people on his team then.
atomic bomb to be
By the end of 1945, Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov managed to assemble a serious team of scientists numbering more than a hundred people. The best minds of various scientific specializations came to the laboratory from all over the country to create atomic weapons. After the Americans dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Soviet scientists realized that this could also be done with the Soviet Union. "Laboratory No. 2" receives a sharp increase in funding from the country's leadership and a large influx of qualified personnel. Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria is appointed responsible for such an important project. The enormous labors of Soviet scientists have borne fruit.
Semipalatinsk test site
The atomic bomb in the USSR was first tested at the test site in Semipalatinsk (Kazakhstan). On August 29, 1949, a 22 kiloton nuclear device shook the Kazakh land. Nobel Laureate, physicist Otto Hanz, said: “This is good news. If Russia has atomic weapons, then there will be no war.” It was this atomic bomb in the USSR, encrypted as product number 501, or RDS-1, that eliminated the US monopoly on nuclear weapon.
Atomic bomb. Year 1945
In the early morning of July 16, the Manhattan Project conducted its first successful test of an atomic device - a plutonium bomb - at the Alamogordo test site in New Mexico, USA.
The money invested in the project was well spent. The first in the history of mankind was produced at 5:30 in the morning.
"We have done the work of the devil," the one who invented the atomic bomb in the United States, later called the "father of the atomic bomb," will say later.
Japan does not capitulate
By the time of the final and successful testing of the atomic bomb Soviet troops and the allies finally defeated Nazi Germany. However, there remained one state that promised to fight to the end for dominance in pacific ocean. From mid-April to mid-July 1945, the Japanese army repeatedly carried out air strikes against allied forces, thereby inflicting heavy losses on the US army. At the end of July 1945, the militarist government of Japan rejected the Allied demand for surrender in accordance with the Potsdam Declaration. In it, in particular, it was said that in case of disobedience, the Japanese army would face rapid and complete destruction.
President agrees
The American government kept its word and began targeted bombing of Japanese military positions. Air strikes did not bring the desired result, and US President Harry Truman decides on the invasion of American troops into Japan. However, the military command dissuades its president from such a decision, citing the fact that the American invasion would entail a large number of victims.
At the suggestion of Henry Lewis Stimson and Dwight David Eisenhower, it was decided to use more effective method end of the war. A big supporter of the atomic bomb, US Presidential Secretary James Francis Byrnes, believed that the bombing of Japanese territories would finally end the war and put the United States in a dominant position, which would positively affect the future course of events in the post-war world. Thus, US President Harry Truman was convinced that this was the only correct option.
Atomic bomb. Hiroshima
The small Japanese city of Hiroshima, with a population of just over 350,000, was chosen as the first target, located five hundred miles from the capital of Japan, Tokyo. After the modified Enola Gay B-29 bomber arrived at the US naval base on Tinian Island, an atomic bomb was installed on board the aircraft. Hiroshima was supposed to experience the effects of 9,000 pounds of uranium-235.
This hitherto unseen weapon was intended for civilians in a small Japanese town. The bomber commander was Colonel Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr. The US atomic bomb bore the cynical name "Baby". On the morning of August 6, 1945, at about 8:15 am, the American "Baby" was dropped on the Japanese Hiroshima. About 15 thousand tons of TNT destroyed all life within a radius of five square miles. One hundred and forty thousand inhabitants of the city died in a matter of seconds. The surviving Japanese died a painful death from radiation sickness.
They were destroyed by the American atomic "Kid". However, the devastation of Hiroshima did not cause the immediate surrender of Japan, as everyone expected. Then it was decided to another bombardment of Japanese territory.
Nagasaki. Sky on fire
The American atomic bomb "Fat Man" was installed on board the B-29 aircraft on August 9, 1945, all in the same place, at the US naval base in Tinian. This time the aircraft commander was Major Charles Sweeney. Initially, the strategic target was the city of Kokura.
However, the weather conditions did not allow to carry out the plan, a lot of clouds interfered. Charles Sweeney went into the second round. At 11:02 am, the American nuclear-powered Fat Man swallowed up Nagasaki. It was a more powerful destructive air strike, which, in its strength, was several times higher than the bombing in Hiroshima. Nagasaki tested an atomic weapon weighing about 10,000 pounds and 22 kilotons of TNT.
The geographical location of the Japanese city reduced the expected effect. The thing is that the city is located in a narrow valley between the mountains. Therefore, the destruction of 2.6 square miles did not reveal the full potential of American weapons. The Nagasaki atomic bomb test is considered the failed "Manhattan Project".
Japan surrendered
On the afternoon of August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito announced his country's surrender in a radio address to the people of Japan. This news quickly spread around the world. In the United States of America, celebrations began on the occasion of the victory over Japan. The people rejoiced.
On September 2, 1945, a formal agreement to end the war was signed aboard the USS Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay. Thus ended the most brutal and bloody war in the history of mankind.
For six long years, the world community has been moving towards this significant date- since September 1, 1939, when the first shots of Nazi Germany were fired on the territory of Poland.
Peaceful atom
A total of 124 nuclear explosions were carried out in the Soviet Union. It is characteristic that all of them were carried out for the benefit of the national economy. Only three of them were accidents involving the release of radioactive elements. Programs for the use of peaceful atom were implemented only in two countries - the United States and the Soviet Union. Nuclear peaceful energy knows an example of a global catastrophe, when years at the fourth power unit Chernobyl nuclear power plant the reactor exploded.
And this is something we often do not know. And why does a nuclear bomb explode, too...
Let's start from afar. Every atom has a nucleus, and the nucleus consists of protons and neutrons - perhaps everyone knows this. In the same way, everyone saw the periodic table. But why are the chemical elements in it placed in this way and not otherwise? Certainly not because Mendeleev wanted to. The serial number of each element in the table indicates how many protons are in the nucleus of the atom of this element. In other words, iron is number 26 in the table because there are 26 protons in an iron atom. And if there are not 26 of them, it is no longer iron.
But neutrons in the nuclei of the same element can be different amount, which means that the mass of the nuclei is different. Atoms of the same element with different masses are called isotopes. Uranium has several such isotopes: the most common in nature is uranium-238 (it has 92 protons and 146 neutrons in its nucleus, making 238 together). It's radioactive, but you can't make a nuclear bomb out of it. But the isotope uranium-235, a small amount of which is in uranium ores, for nuclear charge good.
Perhaps the reader has come across the terms "enriched uranium" and "depleted uranium". Enriched uranium contains more uranium-235 than natural uranium; in the depleted, respectively - less. From enriched uranium, plutonium can be obtained - another element suitable for a nuclear bomb (it is almost never found in nature). How uranium is enriched and how plutonium is obtained from it is a topic for a separate discussion.
So why does a nuclear bomb explode? The fact is that some heavy nuclei tend to decay if a neutron hits them. And you won’t have to wait long for a free neutron - there are a lot of them flying around. So, such a neutron gets into the nucleus of uranium-235 and thereby breaks it into "fragments". This releases a few more neutrons. Can you guess what will happen if there are nuclei of the same element around? That's right, there will be a chain reaction. This is how it happens.
In a nuclear reactor, where uranium-235 is “dissolved” in the more stable uranium-238, an explosion does not occur under normal conditions. Most of the neutrons that fly out of the decaying nuclei fly away "into milk", not finding uranium-235 nuclei. In the reactor, the decay of nuclei is "sluggish" (but this is enough for the reactor to provide energy). Here in a solid piece of uranium-235, if it is of sufficient mass, neutrons will be guaranteed to break nuclei, a chain reaction will avalanche, and ... Stop! After all, if you make a piece of uranium-235 or plutonium of the mass necessary for the explosion, it will immediately explode. That's not the point.
What if you take two pieces of subcritical mass and push them against each other using a remote-controlled mechanism? For example, put both in a tube and attach a powder charge to one in order to shoot one piece at the right time, like a projectile, into another. Here is the solution to the problem.
You can do otherwise: take a spherical piece of plutonium and fix explosive charges over its entire surface. When these charges are detonated on command from the outside, their explosion will compress the plutonium from all sides, squeeze it to a critical density, and a chain reaction will occur. However, accuracy and reliability are important here: all explosive charges must work simultaneously. If some of them work, and some don't, or some work late, no nuclear explosion will come of it: plutonium will not shrink to a critical mass, but will dissipate in the air. Instead of a nuclear bomb, the so-called "dirty" one will turn out.
This is what an implosion-type nuclear bomb looks like. The charges that should create a directed explosion are made in the form of polyhedra in order to cover the surface of the plutonium sphere as tightly as possible.
The device of the first type was called cannon, the second type - implosion.
The "Kid" bomb dropped on Hiroshima had a uranium-235 charge and a gun-type device. The Fat Man bomb detonated over Nagasaki carried a plutonium charge, and the explosive device was implosion. Now gun-type devices are almost never used; implosion ones are more complicated, but at the same time they allow you to control the mass of a nuclear charge and spend it more rationally. And plutonium as a nuclear explosive replaced uranium-235.
Quite a few years passed, and physicists offered the military an even more powerful bomb - thermonuclear, or, as it is also called, hydrogen. It turns out that hydrogen explodes stronger than plutonium?
Hydrogen is really explosive, but not so. However, there is no "ordinary" hydrogen in the hydrogen bomb, it uses its isotopes - deuterium and tritium. The nucleus of “ordinary” hydrogen has one neutron, deuterium has two, and tritium has three.
In a nuclear bomb, the nuclei of a heavy element are divided into nuclei of lighter ones. Goes to thermonuclear reverse process: light nuclei merge with each other to form heavier ones. Deuterium and tritium nuclei, for example, are combined into helium nuclei (otherwise called alpha particles), and the “extra” neutron is sent into “free flight”. In this case, much more energy is released than during the decay of plutonium nuclei. By the way, this process takes place on the Sun.
However, the fusion reaction is possible only at ultrahigh temperatures (which is why it is called THERMOnuclear). How to make deuterium and tritium react? Yes, it's very simple: you need to use a nuclear bomb as a detonator!
Since deuterium and tritium are themselves stable, their charge in a thermonuclear bomb can be arbitrarily huge. This means that a thermonuclear bomb can be made incomparably more powerful than a "simple" nuclear one. The "baby" dropped on Hiroshima had a TNT equivalent within 18 kilotons, and the most powerful H-bomb(the so-called "Tsar Bomba", she is also "Kuzkin's mother") - already 58.6 megatons, more than 3255 times more powerful than the "Baby"!
The “mushroom” cloud from the “Tsar Bomba” rose to a height of 67 kilometers, and the blast wave circled the globe three times.
However, such a gigantic power is clearly excessive. Having "played enough" with megaton bombs, military engineers and physicists took a different path - the path of miniaturization of nuclear weapons. In its usual form, nuclear weapons can be dropped from strategic bombers, like aerial bombs, or launched with ballistic missiles; if you miniaturize them, you get a compact nuclear charge that does not destroy everything for kilometers around, and which can be put on an artillery shell or an air-to-ground missile. Mobility will increase, the range of tasks to be solved will expand. In addition to strategic nuclear weapons, we will get tactical ones.
For tactical nuclear weapons, a variety of delivery vehicles were developed - nuclear guns, mortars, recoilless rifles (for example, the American Davy Crockett). The USSR even had a project for a nuclear bullet. True, it had to be abandoned - nuclear bullets were so unreliable, so complicated and expensive to manufacture and store, that there was no point in them.
"Davy Crockett". A number of these nuclear weapons were in service with the US Armed Forces, and the West German defense minister unsuccessfully sought to have the Bundeswehr armed with them.
Speaking of small nuclear weapons, it is worth mentioning another type of nuclear weapon - the neutron bomb. The charge of plutonium in it is small, but this is not necessary. If a thermonuclear bomb follows the path of increasing the force of an explosion, then a neutron one relies on another damaging factor - radiation. To enhance the radiation in a neutron bomb, there is a supply of beryllium isotope, which, upon explosion, gives great amount fast neutrons.
As conceived by its creators, a neutron bomb should kill the enemy’s manpower, but leave equipment intact, which can then be captured during an offensive. In practice, it turned out a little differently: the irradiated equipment becomes unusable - anyone who dares to pilot it will very soon “earn” radiation sickness. This does not change the fact that the explosion of a neutron bomb is capable of hitting the enemy through tank armor; neutron munitions were developed by the United States precisely as a weapon against Soviet tank formations. However, tank armor was soon developed, providing some kind of protection from the flow of fast neutrons.
Another type of nuclear weapon was invented in 1950, but never (as far as is known) was produced. This is the so-called cobalt bomb - a nuclear charge with a shell of cobalt. During the explosion, cobalt, irradiated by the neutron flux, becomes an extremely radioactive isotope and disperses over the area, infecting it. Just one such bomb of sufficient power could cover the entire globe with cobalt and destroy all of humanity. Fortunately, this project remained a project.
What can be said in conclusion? The nuclear bomb is a truly terrible weapon, and at the same time (what a paradox!) It helped to maintain relative peace between the superpowers. If your opponent has a nuclear weapon, you will think ten times before attacking him. No country with a nuclear arsenal has yet been attacked from outside, and since 1945 there have been no wars in the world between major states. Let's hope they don't.
Nuclear weapons are weapons of a strategic nature, capable of solving global problems. Its use is associated with terrible consequences for all mankind. This makes the atomic bomb not only a threat, but also a deterrent.
The appearance of weapons capable of putting an end to the development of mankind marked the beginning of its new era. The probability of a global conflict or a new world war is minimized due to the possibility of total destruction of the entire civilization.
Despite such threats, nuclear weapons continue to be in service with the world's leading countries. To a certain extent, it is precisely this that becomes the determining factor in international diplomacy and geopolitics.
History of the nuclear bomb
The question of who invented the nuclear bomb has no clear answer in history. The discovery of the radioactivity of uranium is considered to be a prerequisite for work on atomic weapons. In 1896, the French chemist A. Becquerel discovered the chain reaction of this element, initiating developments in nuclear physics.
In the next decade, alpha, beta and gamma rays were discovered, as well as a number of radioactive isotopes of some chemical elements. The subsequent discovery of the law of radioactive decay of the atom was the beginning for the study of nuclear isometry.
In December 1938, the German physicists O. Hahn and F. Strassmann were the first to be able to carry out the nuclear fission reaction under artificial conditions. On April 24, 1939, the leadership of Germany was informed about the likelihood of creating a new powerful explosive.
However, the German nuclear program was doomed to failure. Despite the successful advancement of scientists, the country, due to the war, constantly experienced difficulties with resources, especially with the supply of heavy water. In the later stages, exploration was slowed down by constant evacuations. On April 23, 1945, the developments of German scientists were captured in Haigerloch and taken to the USA.
The US was the first country to express interest in the new invention. In 1941, significant funds were allocated for its development and creation. The first tests took place on July 16, 1945. Less than a month later, the United States used nuclear weapons for the first time, dropping two bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Own research in the field of nuclear physics in the USSR has been conducted since 1918. The Commission on the Atomic Nucleus was established in 1938 at the Academy of Sciences. However, with the outbreak of the war, its activities in this direction were suspended.
In 1943 information about scientific papers in nuclear physics were obtained Soviet intelligence officers from England. Agents have been introduced into several US research centers. The information they obtained made it possible to accelerate the development of their own nuclear weapons.
The invention of the Soviet atomic bomb was headed by I. Kurchatov and Yu. Khariton, they are considered the creators of the Soviet atomic bomb. Information about this became the impetus for preparing the United States for a pre-emptive war. In July 1949, the Troyan plan was developed, according to which it was planned to start hostilities on January 1, 1950.
Later, the date was moved to the beginning of 1957, taking into account that all NATO countries could prepare and join the war. According to Western intelligence, a nuclear test in the USSR could not have been carried out until 1954.
However, the US preparations for the war became known in advance, which forced Soviet scientists to speed up research. In a short time they invent and create their own nuclear bomb. On August 29, 1949, the first Soviet atomic bomb RDS-1 (special jet engine) was tested at the test site in Semipalatinsk.
Tests like these thwarted the Trojan plan. Since then, the United States has ceased to have a monopoly on nuclear weapons. Regardless of the strength of the preemptive strike, there was a risk of retaliation, which threatened to be a disaster. From that moment on, the most terrible weapon became the guarantor of peace between the great powers.
Principle of operation
The principle of operation of an atomic bomb is based on the chain reaction of the decay of heavy nuclei or thermonuclear fusion of lungs. During these processes, a huge amount of energy is released, which turns the bomb into a weapon of mass destruction.
On September 24, 1951, the RDS-2 was tested. They could already be delivered to launch points so that they reached the United States. On October 18, the RDS-3, delivered by a bomber, was tested.
Further tests moved on to thermonuclear fusion. The first tests of such a bomb in the United States took place on November 1, 1952. In the USSR, such a warhead was tested after 8 months.
TX of a nuclear bomb
Nuclear bombs do not have clear characteristics due to the variety of applications of such ammunition. However, there are a number of general aspects that must be taken into account when creating this weapon.
These include:
- axisymmetric structure of the bomb - all blocks and systems are placed in pairs in containers of a cylindrical, spherical or conical shape;
- when designing, they reduce the mass of a nuclear bomb by combining power units, choosing the optimal shape of shells and compartments, as well as using more durable materials;
- the number of wires and connectors is minimized, and a pneumatic conduit or explosive cord is used to transmit the impact;
- the blocking of the main nodes is carried out with the help of partitions destroyed by pyro charges;
- active substances are pumped using a separate container or external carrier.
Taking into account the requirements for the device, a nuclear bomb consists of the following components:
- the case, which provides protection of the ammunition from physical and thermal effects - is divided into compartments, can be equipped with a power frame;
- nuclear charge with a power mount;
- self-destruction system with its integration into a nuclear charge;
- a power source designed for long-term storage - is activated already when the rocket is launched;
- external sensors - to collect information;
- cocking, control and detonation systems, the latter is embedded in the charge;
- systems for diagnostics, heating and maintaining the microclimate inside sealed compartments.
Depending on the type of nuclear bomb, other systems are integrated into it. Among these may be a flight sensor, a blocking console, a calculation of flight options, an autopilot. Some munitions also use jammers designed to reduce opposition to a nuclear bomb.
The consequences of using such a bomb
The "ideal" consequences of the use of nuclear weapons were already recorded during the bombing of Hiroshima. The charge exploded at a height of 200 meters, which caused a strong shock wave. Coal-fired stoves were overturned in many houses, causing fires even outside the affected area.
A flash of light was followed by a heatstroke that lasted a matter of seconds. However, its power was enough to melt tiles and quartz within a radius of 4 km, as well as to spray telegraph poles.
The heat wave was followed by a shock wave. The wind speed reached 800 km / h, its gust destroyed almost all the buildings in the city. Of the 76 thousand buildings, about 6 thousand partially survived, the rest were completely destroyed.
The heat wave, as well as rising steam and ash, caused heavy condensation in the atmosphere. A few minutes later it began to rain with drops black from the ashes. Their contact with the skin caused severe incurable burns.
People who were within 800 meters of the epicenter of the explosion were burned to dust. The rest were exposed to radiation and radiation sickness. Her symptoms were weakness, nausea, vomiting, and fever. There was a sharp decrease in the number of white cells in the blood.
In seconds, about 70 thousand people were killed. The same number later died from wounds and burns.
3 days later, another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki with similar consequences.
Stockpiles of nuclear weapons in the world
The main stocks of nuclear weapons are concentrated in Russia and the United States. In addition to them, the following countries have atomic bombs:
- Great Britain - since 1952;
- France - since 1960;
- China - since 1964;
- India - since 1974;
- Pakistan - since 1998;
- North Korea - since 2008.
Israel also possesses nuclear weapons, although there has been no official confirmation from the country's leadership.
atomic weapons - a device that receives huge explosive power from the reactions of NUCLEAR FISSION and NUCLEAR fusion.
About atomic weapons
Nuclear weapons are the most powerful weapons to date, in service with five countries: Russia, the United States, Great Britain, France and China. There are also a number of states that are more or less successful in the development of atomic weapons, but their research is either not completed, or these countries do not have the necessary means of delivering weapons to the target. India, Pakistan, North Korea, Iraq, Iran have the development of nuclear weapons at different levels, Germany, Israel, South Africa and Japan theoretically have the necessary capabilities to create nuclear weapons in a relatively short time.
It is difficult to overestimate the role of nuclear weapons. On the one hand, this is a powerful deterrent, on the other hand, it is the most effective tool for strengthening peace and preventing military conflicts between powers that possess these weapons. It has been 52 years since the first use of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. The global community has come close to realizing that nuclear war will inevitably lead to a global ecological catastrophe, which will make the further existence of mankind impossible. Over the years, legal mechanisms have been put in place to defuse tensions and ease the confrontation between the nuclear powers. For example, many treaties were signed to reduce the nuclear potential of the powers, the Convention on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons was signed, according to which the possessor countries pledged not to transfer the technology for the production of these weapons to other countries, and countries that do not have nuclear weapons pledged not to take steps to developments; Finally, most recently, the superpowers agreed on a total ban on nuclear tests. It is obvious that nuclear weapons are the most important instrument that has become the regulatory symbol of an entire era in the history of international relations and in the history of mankind.
atomic weapons
NUCLEAR WEAPON, a device that derives tremendous explosive power from the reactions of ATOMIC NUCLEAR FISSION and NUCLEAR fusion. The first nuclear weapons were used by the United States against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. These atomic bombs consisted of two stable doctritic masses of URANIUM and PLUTONIUM, which, when strongly collided, caused an excess of CRITICAL MASS, thereby provoking an uncontrolled CHAIN REACTION of atomic fission. In such explosions, a huge amount of energy and destructive radiation is released: the explosive power can be equal to the power of 200,000 tons of trinitrotoluene. The much more powerful hydrogen bomb (thermonuclear bomb), first tested in 1952, consists of an atomic bomb that, when detonated, creates a temperature high enough to cause nuclear fusion in a nearby solid layer, usually lithium deterrite. Explosive power can be equal to the power of several million tons (megatons) of trinitrotoluene. The area of destruction caused by such bombs reaches a large size: a 15 megaton bomb will explode all burning substances within 20 km. The third type of nuclear weapon, the neutron bomb, is a small hydrogen bomb, also called a high-radiation weapon. It causes a weak explosion, which, however, is accompanied by an intense release of high-speed NEUTRONS. The weakness of the explosion means that the buildings are not damaged much. Neutrons, on the other hand, cause severe radiation sickness in people within a certain radius of the explosion site, and kill all those affected within a week.
Initially, an atomic bomb explosion (A) forms a fireball (1) with a temperature of millions of degrees Celsius and emits radiation (?) After a few minutes (B), the ball increases in volume and creates! high pressure(3). The fireball rises (C), sucking up dust and debris, and forms a mushroom cloud (D), As it expands in volume, the fireball creates a powerful convection current (4), emitting hot radiation (5) and forming a cloud (6), When it explodes 15 megaton bomb blast destruction is complete (7) within an 8 km radius, severe (8) within a 15 km radius and noticeable (I) within a 30 km radius Even at a distance of 20 km (10) all flammable substances explode within two days fallout continues with a radioactive dose of 300 roentgens after a bomb detonation 300 km away The attached photograph shows how a large nuclear weapon explosion on the ground creates a huge mushroom cloud of radioactive dust and debris that can reach a height of several kilometers. Dangerous dust in the air is then freely carried by the prevailing winds in any direction. Devastation covers a vast area.
Modern atomic bombs and projectiles
Radius of action
Depending on the power of the atomic charge, atomic bombs are divided into calibers: small, medium and large . To obtain energy equal to the energy of an explosion of a small-caliber atomic bomb, several thousand tons of TNT must be blown up. The TNT equivalent of a medium-caliber atomic bomb is tens of thousands, and large-caliber bombs are hundreds of thousands of tons of TNT. Thermonuclear (hydrogen) weapons can have even greater power, their TNT equivalent can reach millions and even tens of millions of tons. Atomic bombs, the TNT equivalent of which is 1-50 thousand tons, are classified as tactical atomic bombs and are intended for solving operational-tactical problems. Tactical weapons also include: artillery shells with an atomic charge with a capacity of 10-15 thousand tons and atomic charges (with a capacity of about 5-20 thousand tons) for anti-aircraft guided projectiles and projectiles used to arm fighters. Atomic and hydrogen bombs with a capacity of over 50 thousand tons are classified as strategic weapons.
It should be noted that such a classification of atomic weapons is only conditional, since in reality the consequences of the use of tactical atomic weapons can be no less than those experienced by the population of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and even greater. It is now obvious that the explosion of only one hydrogen bomb is capable of causing such severe consequences over vast territories that tens of thousands of shells and bombs used in past world wars did not carry with them. And a few hydrogen bombs are enough to turn huge territories into a desert zone.
Nuclear weapons are divided into 2 main types: atomic and hydrogen (thermonuclear). In atomic weapons, the release of energy occurs due to the fission reaction of the nuclei of atoms of the heavy elements of uranium or plutonium. In hydrogen weapons, energy is released as a result of the formation (or fusion) of nuclei of helium atoms from hydrogen atoms.
thermonuclear weapons
Modern thermonuclear weapons are classified as strategic weapons that can be used by aviation to destroy the most important industrial, military facilities, large cities as civilization centers behind enemy lines. The most well-known type of thermonuclear weapons are thermonuclear (hydrogen) bombs, which can be delivered to the target by aircraft. Thermonuclear warheads can also be used to launch missiles for various purposes, including intercontinental ballistic missiles. For the first time, such a missile was tested in the USSR back in 1957, and is currently in service with Missile Troops Strategic Purpose missiles consist of several types, based on mobile launchers, in silo launchers, on submarines.
Atomic bomb
The operation of thermonuclear weapons is based on the use of a thermonuclear reaction with hydrogen or its compounds. In these reactions, which proceed at ultrahigh temperatures and pressures, energy is released due to the formation of helium nuclei from hydrogen nuclei, or from hydrogen and lithium nuclei. For the formation of helium, mainly heavy hydrogen is used - deuterium, the nuclei of which have an unusual structure - one proton and one neutron. When deuterium is heated to temperatures of several tens of millions of degrees, its atoms lose their electron shells during the very first collisions with other atoms. As a result, the medium turns out to consist only of protons and electrons moving independently of them. The speed of thermal motion of particles reaches such values that deuterium nuclei can approach each other and, due to the action of powerful nuclear forces, combine with each other, forming helium nuclei. The result of this process is the release of energy.
The basic scheme of the hydrogen bomb is as follows. Deuterium and tritium liquid state are placed in a tank with a heat-impermeable shell, which serves for long-term preservation of deuterium and tritium in a strongly cooled state (to maintain it from a liquid state of aggregation). The heat-impervious shell can contain 3 layers consisting of a hard alloy, solid carbon dioxide and liquid nitrogen. An atomic charge is placed near a reservoir of hydrogen isotopes. When an atomic charge is detonated, hydrogen isotopes are heated to high temperatures, conditions are created for a thermonuclear reaction to occur and an explosion of a hydrogen bomb. However, in the process of creating hydrogen bombs, it was found that it was impractical to use hydrogen isotopes, since in this case the bomb becomes too heavy (more than 60 tons), which made it impossible to even think about using such charges on strategic bombers, and even more so in ballistic missiles any range. The second problem faced by the developers of the hydrogen bomb was the radioactivity of tritium, which made it impossible to store it for a long time.
In study 2, the above problems were solved. Liquid hydrogen isotopes have been replaced by solid chemical compound deuterium with lithium-6. This made it possible to significantly reduce the size and weight of the hydrogen bomb. In addition, lithium hydride was used instead of tritium, which made it possible to place thermonuclear charges on fighter bombers and ballistic missiles.
The creation of the hydrogen bomb was not the end of the development of thermonuclear weapons, more and more of its samples appeared, a hydrogen-uranium bomb was created, as well as some of its varieties - super-powerful and, conversely, small-caliber bombs. The last step improvement of thermonuclear weapons was the creation of the so-called "clean" hydrogen bomb.
H-bomb
The first developments of this modification of a thermonuclear bomb appeared back in 1957, in the wake of US propaganda statements about the creation of some kind of “humane” thermonuclear weapon that does not cause as much harm to future generations as an ordinary thermonuclear bomb. There was some truth in the claims to "humanity". Although the destructive power of the bomb was not less, at the same time it could be detonated so that strontium-90, which in an ordinary hydrogen explosion poisons the earth's atmosphere for a long time, does not spread. Everything that is within the range of such a bomb will be destroyed, but the danger to living organisms that are removed from the explosion, as well as to future generations, will decrease. However, these allegations were refuted by scientists, who recalled that during the explosions of atomic or hydrogen bombs, a large amount of radioactive dust is formed, which rises with a powerful air flow to a height of up to 30 km, and then gradually settles to the ground over a large area, infecting it. Studies by scientists show that it will take 4 to 7 years for half of this dust to fall to the ground.
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North Korea is threatening the US with a super-powerful hydrogen bomb test in the Pacific. Japan, which could suffer from the tests, called North Korea's plans absolutely unacceptable. Presidents Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un swear in interviews and talk about open military conflict. For those who do not understand nuclear weapons, but want to be in the subject, "Futurist" has compiled a guide.
How do nuclear weapons work?
Like a regular stick of dynamite, a nuclear bomb uses energy. Only it is released not in the course of a primitive chemical reaction, but in complex nuclear processes. There are two main ways to extract nuclear energy from an atom. AT nuclear fission the nucleus of an atom splits into two smaller fragments with a neutron. Nuclear fusion - the process by which the Sun generates energy - involves combining two smaller atoms to form a larger one. In any process, fission or fusion, large amounts of thermal energy and radiation are released. Depending on whether nuclear fission or fusion is used, bombs are divided into nuclear (atomic) and thermonuclear .
Can you elaborate on nuclear fission?
Atomic bomb explosion over Hiroshima (1945)
As you remember, an atom is made up of three types of subatomic particles: protons, neutrons, and electrons. The center of the atom is called core , is made up of protons and neutrons. Protons are positively charged, electrons are negatively charged, and neutrons have no charge at all. The proton-electron ratio is always one to one, so the atom as a whole has a neutral charge. For example, a carbon atom has six protons and six electrons. Particles are held together by a fundamental force - strong nuclear force .
The properties of an atom can vary greatly depending on how many different particles it contains. If you change the number of protons, you will have a different chemical element. If you change the number of neutrons, you get isotope the same element that you have in your hands. For example, carbon has three isotopes: 1) carbon-12 (six protons + six neutrons), a stable and frequently occurring form of the element, 2) carbon-13 (six protons + seven neutrons), which is stable but rare, and 3) carbon -14 (six protons + eight neutrons), which is rare and unstable (or radioactive).
Most atomic nuclei are stable, but some are unstable (radioactive). These nuclei spontaneously emit particles that scientists call radiation. This process is called radioactive decay . There are three types of decay:
Alpha decay : The nucleus ejects an alpha particle - two protons and two neutrons bound together. beta decay : the neutron turns into a proton, an electron and an antineutrino. The ejected electron is a beta particle. Spontaneous division: the nucleus breaks up into several parts and emits neutrons, and also emits a pulse of electromagnetic energy - a gamma ray. It is the latter type of decay that is used in the nuclear bomb. Free neutrons emitted by fission begin chain reaction which releases an enormous amount of energy.
What are nuclear bombs made of?
They can be made from uranium-235 and plutonium-239. Uranium occurs in nature as a mixture of three isotopes: 238U (99.2745% of natural uranium), 235U (0.72%) and 234U (0.0055%). The most common 238 U does not support a chain reaction: only 235 U is capable of this. To achieve the maximum explosion power, it is necessary that the content of 235 U in the "stuffing" of the bomb is at least 80%. Therefore, uranium falls artificially enrich . To do this, the mixture of uranium isotopes is divided into two parts so that one of them contains more than 235 U.
Usually, when isotopes are separated, there is a lot of depleted uranium that cannot start a chain reaction - but there is a way to make it do this. The fact is that plutonium-239 does not occur in nature. But it can be obtained by bombarding 238 U with neutrons.
How is their power measured?
The power of a nuclear and thermonuclear charge is measured in TNT equivalent - the amount of trinitrotoluene that must be detonated to obtain a similar result. It is measured in kilotons (kt) and megatons (Mt). The power of ultra-small nuclear weapons is less than 1 kt, while super-powerful bombs give more than 1 Mt.
The power of the Soviet Tsar Bomba, according to various sources, ranged from 57 to 58.6 megatons of TNT, the power of the thermonuclear bomb that the DPRK tested in early September was about 100 kilotons.
Who created nuclear weapons?
American physicist Robert Oppenheimer and General Leslie Groves
In the 1930s, an Italian physicist Enrico Fermi demonstrated that elements bombarded with neutrons could be converted into new elements. The result of this work was the discovery slow neutrons , as well as the discovery of new elements that are not presented on periodic table. Shortly after Fermi's discovery, German scientists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann bombarded uranium with neutrons, resulting in the formation of a radioactive isotope of barium. They concluded that low-speed neutrons cause the uranium nucleus to break into two smaller pieces.
This work excited the minds of the whole world. At Princeton University Niels Bohr worked with John Wheeler to develop a hypothetical model of the fission process. They suggested that uranium-235 undergoes fission. Around the same time, other scientists discovered that the fission process produced even more neutrons. This prompted Bohr and Wheeler to ask important question: could the free neutrons created by fission start a chain reaction that would release a huge amount of energy? If so, then weapons of unimaginable power could be created. Their assumptions were confirmed by the French physicist Frederic Joliot-Curie . His conclusion was the impetus for the development of nuclear weapons.
The physicists of Germany, England, the USA, and Japan worked on the creation of atomic weapons. Before the outbreak of World War II Albert Einstein wrote to the President of the United States Franklin Roosevelt that Nazi Germany plans to purify uranium-235 and create an atomic bomb. Now it turned out that Germany was far from conducting a chain reaction: they were working on a "dirty", highly radioactive bomb. Be that as it may, the US government threw all its efforts into creating an atomic bomb in the shortest possible time. The Manhattan Project was launched, led by an American physicist Robert Oppenheimer and general Leslie Groves . It was attended by prominent scientists who emigrated from Europe. By the summer of 1945, an atomic weapon was created based on two types of fissile material - uranium-235 and plutonium-239. One bomb, the plutonium "Thing", was detonated during tests, and two more, the uranium "Kid" and the plutonium "Fat Man", were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
How does a thermonuclear bomb work and who invented it?
The thermonuclear bomb is based on the reaction nuclear fusion . Unlike nuclear fission, which can take place both spontaneously and forcedly, nuclear fusion is impossible without the supply of external energy. Atomic nuclei are positively charged, so they repel each other. This situation is called the Coulomb barrier. To overcome repulsion, it is necessary to disperse these particles to crazy speeds. This can be done at very high temperatures - on the order of several million kelvins (hence the name). There are three types of thermonuclear reactions: self-sustaining (take place in the interior of stars), controlled and uncontrolled or explosive - they are used in hydrogen bombs.
The idea of a bomb thermonuclear fusion, initiated by an atomic charge, suggested Enrico Fermi to his colleague Edward Teller back in 1941, at the very beginning of the Manhattan Project. However, at that time this idea was not in demand. Teller's developments improved Stanislav Ulam , making the idea of a thermonuclear bomb feasible in practice. In 1952, the first thermonuclear explosive device was tested on Enewetok Atoll during Operation Ivy Mike. However, it was a laboratory sample, unsuitable for combat. One year later Soviet Union detonated the world's first thermonuclear bomb, assembled according to the design of physicists Andrey Sakharov and Julia Khariton . The device resembled a layer cake, so the formidable weapon was nicknamed "Sloika". In the course of further developments, the most powerful bomb on Earth, "Tsar Bomba" or "Kuzkin's mother". In October 1961, it was tested on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago.
What are thermonuclear bombs made of?
If you thought that hydrogen and thermonuclear bombs are different things, you were wrong. These words are synonymous. It is hydrogen (or rather, its isotopes - deuterium and tritium) that is required to carry out a thermonuclear reaction. However, there is a difficulty: in order to detonate a hydrogen bomb, you must first obtain high temperature- only then atomic nuclei will start to react. Therefore, in the case of a thermonuclear bomb, design plays an important role.
Two schemes are widely known. The first is the Sakharov "puff". In the center was a nuclear detonator, which was surrounded by layers of lithium deuteride mixed with tritium, which were interspersed with layers of enriched uranium. This design made it possible to achieve a power within 1 Mt. The second is the American Teller-Ulam scheme, where the nuclear bomb and hydrogen isotopes were located separately. It looked like this: from below - a container with a mixture of liquid deuterium and tritium, in the center of which there was a "spark plug" - a plutonium rod, and from above - a conventional nuclear charge, and all this in a shell of heavy metal (for example, depleted uranium). Fast neutrons produced during the explosion cause atomic fission reactions in the uranium shell and add energy to the total energy of the explosion. Adding additional layers of lithium uranium-238 deuteride allows you to create projectiles of unlimited power. In 1953 the Soviet physicist Viktor Davidenko accidentally repeated the Teller-Ulam idea, and on its basis Sakharov came up with a multi-stage scheme that made it possible to create weapons of unprecedented power. It was according to this scheme that Kuzkina's mother worked.
What other bombs are there?
There are also neutron ones, but this is generally scary. In fact, a neutron bomb is a low-yield thermonuclear bomb, 80% of the explosion energy of which is radiation (neutron radiation). It looks like an ordinary low-yield nuclear charge, to which a block with a beryllium isotope is added - a source of neutrons. When a nuclear weapon explodes, a thermonuclear reaction starts. This type of weapon was developed by an American physicist Samuel Cohen . It was believed that neutron weapons destroy all life even in shelters, however, the range of destruction of such weapons is small, since the atmosphere scatters fast neutron fluxes, and the shock wave is stronger at large distances.
But what about the cobalt bomb?
No, son, it's fantastic. No country officially has cobalt bombs. Theoretically, this is a thermonuclear bomb with a cobalt shell, which provides a strong radioactive contamination of the area even with a relatively weak nuclear explosion. 510 tons of cobalt can infect the entire surface of the Earth and destroy all life on the planet. Physicist Leo Szilard , who described this hypothetical design in 1950, called it the "Doomsday Machine".
Which is cooler: a nuclear bomb or a thermonuclear one?
Full-scale model of "Tsar-bomba"
The hydrogen bomb is much more advanced and technologically advanced than the atomic bomb. Its explosive power far exceeds that of an atomic one and is limited only by the number of components available. In a thermonuclear reaction, for each nucleon (the so-called constituent nuclei, protons and neutrons), much more energy is released than in a nuclear reaction. For example, during the fission of a uranium nucleus, one nucleon accounts for 0.9 MeV (megaelectronvolt), and during the synthesis of a helium nucleus from hydrogen nuclei, an energy equal to 6 MeV is released.
Like bombs deliverto the target?
At first, they were dropped from aircraft, but air defenses were constantly improved, and delivering nuclear weapons in this way proved unwise. With the growth in the production of rocket technology, all rights to deliver nuclear weapons were transferred to ballistic and cruise missiles of various bases. Therefore, a bomb is no longer a bomb, but a warhead.
There is an opinion that the North Korean hydrogen bomb is too big to be installed on a rocket - so if the DPRK decides to bring the threat to life, it will be taken by ship to the site of the explosion.
What are the consequences of a nuclear war?
Hiroshima and Nagasaki are only a small part of the possible apocalypse. For example, the well-known hypothesis of "nuclear winter", which was put forward by the American astrophysicist Carl Sagan and the Soviet geophysicist Georgy Golitsyn. It is assumed that the explosion of several nuclear warheads (not in the desert or water, but in settlements) will cause many fires, and a large amount of smoke and soot will splash into the atmosphere, which will lead to global cooling. The hypothesis is criticized by comparing the effect with volcanic activity, which has little effect on the climate. In addition, some scientists note that global warming is more likely to occur than cooling - however, both sides hope that we will never know.
Are nuclear weapons allowed?
After the arms race in the 20th century, countries changed their minds and decided to limit the use of nuclear weapons. The UN adopted treaties on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and the prohibition of nuclear tests (the latter was not signed by the young nuclear powers India, Pakistan, and the DPRK). In July 2017, a new treaty banning nuclear weapons was adopted.
"Each State Party undertakes never, under any circumstances, to develop, test, manufacture, manufacture, otherwise acquire, possess, or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices," reads the first article of the treaty. .
However, the document will not enter into force until 50 states ratify it.