Hydrogen+Bomb+-+p4

Eric

__Hydrogen Bomb in the 1900's p.4__
The hydrogen bomb or H- Bomb was first introduced in the 1920's, but was not manufactured until the 1950's. The hydrogen bomb works by fusing two atoms together and then splitting them apart to produce a huge explosion. After World War II whichever country had the biggest weapon would lead the world. This bomb is very destructive and has the power of about 10.4 million tons of TNT. When the hydrogen bomb was first tested by the U.S. it vaporized an entire island.

The idea to make the hydrogen bomb was first introduced in the 1920's when scientists were fusing two nuclei to create one larger nucleus. Around 1938 an Austrian- German physicist named Hans Bethe had a hypothesis that showed how the hydrogen nuclei or protons might fuse to produce a single helium nucleus. This helped other scientists to create the hydrogen bomb such as Edward Teller. Edward Teller was an American physicist known as the father of the H-Bomb. He was born in 1908 and died in 2003. In 1935 Teller came from Leipzig, Germany to the United States During World War II he had helped create nuclear weapons, he also helped in part to make the Atomic Bomb. His works helped the development of the Hydrogen Bomb in 1952. Also, he founded the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which is dedicated to the making of nuclear weapons. Lastly, he taught at the University of California at Berkeley from 1953 to 1975.

[|http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/CFJ/2412~Hydrogen-Bomb-Posters.jpg] http://www.mbe.doe.gov/me70/manhattan/images/IvyMikeWhite.jpg

A fusion bomb is a bomb that splits apart atoms to cause a reaction. The hydrogen bomb, which is a type of a fusion bomb, has the atomic nuclei of deuterium and tritium, which are joined together and create helium by an uncontrolled nuclear fusion. The hydrogen bomb is about 500 times as powerful as the first fission bomb or the atomic bomb. The reaction can reach up to 72,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit. This, as you can guess, causes a huge explosion and lots of damage.

The H- Bomb was important for political and economic reasons. It was important for the U.S. to have a weapon that no one else had. Scientists in the U.S. were trying to create the hydrogen bomb or fusion bomb to gain world power over the Soviet Union. The U.S. needed to make a Hydrogen Bomb because the Soviet Union had just made their first Atomic Bomb. The U.S. felt that the Atomic bomb wasn't as powerful since more countries were making it. The U.S. started testing the H- Bomb in 1952 and in 1954 both the Soviet Union and the United States had created an H- Bomb. The fusing of two nuclei was found to be a new source of energy, which would serve useful around the world.

The hydrogen bomb is 500 times more powerful than the atomic bomb or A- Bomb. When you think back to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and how many people that were killed there, imagine that 500 times as destructive. So in 1952 the United States started testing thermonuclear devices to try and make a bomb that is even more powerful than the Atomic Bomb. Each kilogram of heavy hydrogen is equal to 85,000 tons of TNT. The destructiveness of one Hydrogen Bomb could have a potential of almost ten million tons of TNT and cover an area of close to 30 miles.

On January 31st, 1950 Harry S. Truman announced that the United States would proceed in making the Hydrogen Bomb. He was convinced because he was concerned about having power over the Soviet Union. Many scientists met on October 29 and 30, 1950 to boost the atomic bombs' capability with small quantities of tritium to create a bigger explosion. This invention was successfully tested in May of 1951. They thought this might be the beginning of a super weapon.

The U.S. tested a hydrogen bomb on November 1st, 1952. It was called Mike and was detonated in the Bikini Atoll. All people had to be evacuated 40 miles away. The explosion produced an equivalent of 10.4 million tons of TNT. The crater was over a diameter of 3 miles and vaporized the island of Elugelab and a .5 mile deep crater which was 2 miles wide was left in its' place. The Soviet Union tested a small hydrogen component bomb in August of 1953. It had a yield of a couple hundred kilotons. This is about half of what the largest fission bomb the U.S. had tested. Some people called the Soviet's test not even a true H- Bomb.

__Bibliography:__
Hydrogen Bomb Picture [|http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/CFJ/2412~Hydrogen-Bomb-Posters.jpg]

Hydrogen Bomb Picture http://www.mbe.doe.gov/me70/manhattan/images/IvyMikeWhite.jpg

Badash, Lawrence. “Hydrogen Bomb” Grolier Online. 5 Feb. 2007 

Kelves, Daniel J. “Teller Edward.” World Book Online Referenc Center.2007. Highland Middle School. 2/16/07 http://www.worldbookonline.com.ezproxy.cooklib.org:20048/wb/Article?id=ar5500807

“Hydrogen Bomb.” DISCovering Science. Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. StudentResource Center- Gold Thompson Gale. Cook Memorial Public Library. 7 Feb. 2007. [|http://find.galegroup.com/srax/infomark.do?and contentset=GSRCand type=retrieveandtabID=T001.andprodld=SRCGanduserGroupNAme=ccsmandversion=107]