Hydrogen+Bomb-1

By: Adam

Hydrogen Bomb
A hydrogen bomb is a bomb of vast damaging power caused by the fusion of the nuclei of many hydrogen isotopes in the shape of a helium nucleus. The road to discovering hydrogen bombs began seriously when Enrico Fermi split the uranium atom in a process known as fission. As fission was tested and applied by scientists, WWII broke out. This led governments to create the atomic bomb. After the bombing of Japan and the end of WWII scientists began to think about more powerful bombs. The president announced that the U.S. was to begin work on the hydrogen bomb on January 22, 1950. This bomb would use fusion to bond hydrogen and helium.

Enrico Fermi

The hydrogen bomb was the result of the work of many scientists over time. Edward Teller is considered the father of the hydrogen bomb. because he helped to design the hydrogen bomb. Enrico Fermi was the person who had the idea of the H-bomb. He learned how to split the Uranium atom, known as fission, but discouraged the H-bomb making. Oppenheimer was the father of the A-bomb and also opposed the H-bomb. Ulam came up with the idea of putting a hydrogen fuel capsule in an atom bomb, in which the radiation would compress and heat the fuel and cause it to explode. Fuchs was the scientist that was the double agent because he leaked information to the Soviets while he was working on the H-bomb in the U.S. Andrei Sakharov is considered the father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb. General LeMay ripped out the armaments on 325 B-29s and loaded each plane with firebomb clusters.

Edward Teller

The reason the A-bomb and H-bomb were created was because of the fear of the enemy having a greater weapon. Although these weapons were intended for security, they have caused much controversy and worry over the years. The H-bomb was the major bomb being developed in arms race. The H-bomb furthermore helped the progression of nuclear physics. Building the H-bomb also aided us in the safety of bomb development. These bombs changed the way we wage war because anybody we can’t defeat with military force would also have nuclear weapons. It may have led to more important studies in warfare, energy, and medicine.

There are many dates that were very important to the world and warfare. On November 1, 1952 the U.S. detonated the first Hydrogen Bomb in Eniwetok Atoll and on August 12, 1953 the Soviet Union discharges its first H-bomb. Also on March 1, 1954 the U.S. tested a huge H-bomb at Bikini Atoll. Another key date is May 28, 1998 when the world was enraged at Pakistan’s nuclear tests. Some other major dates, when countries leaders were signing treaties to limit nuclear weapons, are as follows: October 3, 1972 when the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty I was signed by Nixon and Andrey Gromyko to freeze missile levels, December 8, 1987 when Reagan and Gorbachev signed the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), July 31, 1991 when START I was signed by President George H.W. Bush and Gorbachev to cut down the number of nuclear warheads, and January 3, 1993 when START II was signed by President H.W. Bush and Yeltsin for further cuts in nuclear weapons. The last but not least significant dates are April 8, 1978 when Carter delays neutron bomb production and March 23, 1983 when Reagan announces his “Star Wars” program to the American public.

There are some very interesting facts and numbers for the H-bomb. The following numbers are some of these: 28,800 intact nuclear warheads retained by the U.S. and Russia, 30,000 intact nuclear warheads in the world (17,000 considered operational), 128,000+ estimated number of nuclear warheads built worldwide since 1945 and all but 2% were built by the U.S. or Russia, 10,729 total number of intact nuclear warheads in the U.S. (274 awaiting dismantlement), 10,455 total umber of warheads in U.S. stockpile, 8,400 total number of nuclear warheads in Russian arsenal. Here are some figures that the U.S. spends for nuclear warfare: $3.5 trillion amount U.S. between 1940 and 1995 to prepare to fight a nuclear war and $27 billion amount U.S. spends annually to prepare to fight a nuclear war. Also here are some weight statistics: 1 gram of hydrogen bomb material would create an explosion equal to 150 tons of TNT, hydrogen bombs can be thousands of times more powerful than the atomic bomb. An atomic bomb was the equal of 20,000 tons as TNT, while a 1 megaton hydrogen bomb is equal to 1 million tons of TNT. General LeMay “modified” 325 B-29’s to drop bombs. The first night’s raid incinerated more than 16 square miles of the city, killing 100,000 people. According to the official Air Force history of the Second World War, "No other air attack of the war, either in Japan or Europe, was so destructive of life and property." For months LeMay's bombers went out night after night, relentlessly keeping up their fire bombing campaign, so that by the end of the war, flames had totally or partially consumed 63 Japanese cities, killing half a million people and leaving eight million homeless.

"Mike" Test

There are many ways a hydrogen bomb can be damaging. The first ways are explosive force, air pressure change, and strong winds. The second ways are thermal heat, thermonuclear blast (a thermonuclear blast’s temperature can be as hot as the sun’s surface, which can be up to 30,000,000°F), and gamma radiation (which can travel many centimeters into human tissues and organs). The last way is nuclear fallout. If hundreds of thousands of thermonuclear bombs are exploded, there would be huge fires and smoke that would put the world in to a “nuclear winter”, which would lower world temperatures.