I’ve heard people say there is no fallout, but there typically is a fission bomb in the secondary stage. Where does its radiation go? Is it just blown away by the fusion bomb so it’s no longer as deadly? Isn’t it still there though? Is it just weaker?
In: Physics
One thing to note is that a thermonuclear bomb needs to use Plutonium or Uranium as the initial stage to produce the heat and pressure needed to start the fusion process of the lithium/hydrogen secondary stage. A significant percentage of the total bomb yield comes from this first ‘atomic bomb’ stage of the weapon. When they detonate there isn’t 100% efficient fission, so a lot of the uranium/plutonium atoms are scattered, as well as a lot of the fission byproducts that also emit significant radiation risks.
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