swalkerre@cc.curtin.edu.au (11/03/90)
From: swalkerre@cc.curtin.edu.au Apologies for being ignorant, but can anyone tell me the differences between Hydrogen, Atom and Neutron bombs ? Thanks in advance, Rob. -- /*********************************\ * __ * * ___/ | Robert Walker, * "Sorry About The Signature, * / | * I cannot afford a larger one!!!". * \ | Curtin University * * x___--' Perth, West Australia * "Buy your Own VAX and be your own * * Systems Manager!". \*********************************/
"Christian M. Restifo" <cr2r+@andrew.cmu.edu> (11/05/90)
From: "Christian M. Restifo" <cr2r+@andrew.cmu.edu> The "A-bomb", as many people used to call it, is (was, actually) a fission-based bomb. Some type of fissionable material (such as U-238) is imploded and made to go supercritical. The result is your typical fission explosion. The hydrogen bomb, on the other hand, is a fusion bomb. A fission reaction starts the actual fusion reaction. H-bombs are much, much more powerful than "A-bombs". As for the Neutron bomb, all I know is that it's used to radiate the hell out of your target. While the blast effects (destruction of buildings, etc.) is considerably less than that of an H-bomb, the weapon actually spews out a tremendous amount of radiation, killing every living thing. (I've heard that the Neutron bomb was originally designed to be used in the Middle East on the oil fields....) Of course, you've also got your nasty nukes where they take the "left-overs" from production and put them together. These can do a good job of contaminating a city, etc. for several thousand years.... -Chris Restifo cr2r@andrew.cmu.edu
military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) (11/07/90)
From: p14.f7.n391.z8.fidonet.org!Dan.Daetwyler (Dan Daetwyler)
Sw> Apologies for being ignorant, but can anyone tell me the differences
Sw> between Hydrogen, Atom and Neutron bombs ?
You'll probably get better responses, but in a simple form, here's mine.
Atom Bomb - Fission weapon. Uses critical mass of radioactive material
(eg: Plutonium). Trick here is to form the critical mass quickly
enough so that expansion from the heat of reaction does not cause
a fizzle. Also, trick is to hold the super compressed crtical
mass at compressed state. The longer it is held, the greater the
yield. Interesting side note. The size (mass) of the material
has little to no bearing on the size of the blast (assuming
criticality is exceeded). Length the mass is held compressed has
a very direct bearing.
Hydrogen bomb - Fusion weapon. Uses the detonation of an "atmoic bomb"
to provide the heat and pressure necessary to cause fusion to
take place. Uses form of heavy hytrogen as fusion material.
Neutron Bomb - Any nuclear weapon tamped to provide lots of radiation
with minimal (still nuclear) blast effect. Takes it's name from
the radiation of high energy neutrons as it's primary effect.
A bit simplistic, but maybe that's all you wanted to know about alligators?
D Squared