eli5: How does an H bomb work?

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How does simply splitting one atom expel so much energy? There’s no way that much energy could fit into a hydrogen atom. There’s only one electron, which has the energy. How does one atom make a big explosion?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Fission bombs split atoms. Many atoms. H-bombs get their energy from the opposite process, fusing atoms. Again, though, fusing *lots* of atoms.

A regular bomb works off of a lot of explosive. Nukes are the same idea, but the explosive has a lot more energy per atom.

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