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
Yes they do produce fallout. The most important difference between an Atomic Bomb (fission) and a Hydrogen Bomb (fusion) is simply efficiency. Fusion produces far more energy relative to its fuel than fission, by as much as 1000x.
Fusion also produces somewhat more ionizing radiation relative to the actual heat and explosive force so it kills people while doing less damage to buildings and other infrastructure but the reason it produces less fallout and lingering radiation is because there’s much much less radioactive material required to produce a comparably deadly blast.
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