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?
In: 0
H-bombs work by joining atoms together, not by splitting them.
Imagine you have a bunch of magnets arranged on a table. Give them the right kind of nudge, and suddenly they all stick together, and give a lot of energy off in the form of sound (and heat, which we can’t see directly without the right equipment)
If you want to pull the magnets apart, you have to spend energy to do so.
If you had a *lot* of magnets, you’d get a lot of energy. I suppose one day a YouTuber will make a video “I arranged 1 million magnets and nudged them!” which will be fun to watch.
A bunch of hydrogen atoms might not look like it has a lot of energy, but nor did the magnets arranged on the table. Given the right kind of nudge though (unbelievably high pressure, and multi-million degree temperatures), the Hydrogen atoms join together to form larger atoms, and give off a lot of energy.
(Unlike magnets, there are limits to this: if the atoms get big enough, it costs energy to merge them, and we can get energy by splitting them)
E = mc^2
Energy in joules = mass * the square of the speed of light in meters per second
The mass of a Hydrogen atom is tiny. The speed of light squared is a gigantic number (~300,000,000*~300,000,000 = 90,000,000,000,000,000).
A tiny number times a gigantic number still results in a very large number.
And a hydrogen bomb doesn’t fuse 2 atoms into 1. It fuses millions of atoms.
A very large number times millions is a LOT of energy.
All the above results in the big boom you see in movies and historical films.
An H-bomb is a fusion weapon. Atoms are combined to make bigger atoms
This is as opposed to a fission bomb, which works by splitting very large atoms into smaller atoms.
The part that is probably really confusing about this is that every fusion bomb also has a fission bomb built into it.
The only place we know of where fusion occurs naturally is at the center of a star where the high temperatures and pressures needed for fusion to occur are present.
The only way we know of to reproduce those conditions outside of a star is the brief moment of time after a fission bomb explodes.
So to create a fusion bomb, you take a fission bomb and pack the fusion bomb material right next to it, such that right after the fission reaction goes off, the conditions will be just right to kick off the fusion reaction in the fusion part of the bomb.
H-bombs work by joining atoms together, not by splitting them.
Imagine you have a bunch of magnets arranged on a table. Give them the right kind of nudge, and suddenly they all stick together, and give a lot of energy off in the form of sound (and heat, which we can’t see directly without the right equipment)
If you want to pull the magnets apart, you have to spend energy to do so.
If you had a *lot* of magnets, you’d get a lot of energy. I suppose one day a YouTuber will make a video “I arranged 1 million magnets and nudged them!” which will be fun to watch.
A bunch of hydrogen atoms might not look like it has a lot of energy, but nor did the magnets arranged on the table. Given the right kind of nudge though (unbelievably high pressure, and multi-million degree temperatures), the Hydrogen atoms join together to form larger atoms, and give off a lot of energy.
(Unlike magnets, there are limits to this: if the atoms get big enough, it costs energy to merge them, and we can get energy by splitting them)
H-bombs work by joining atoms together, not by splitting them.
Imagine you have a bunch of magnets arranged on a table. Give them the right kind of nudge, and suddenly they all stick together, and give a lot of energy off in the form of sound (and heat, which we can’t see directly without the right equipment)
If you want to pull the magnets apart, you have to spend energy to do so.
If you had a *lot* of magnets, you’d get a lot of energy. I suppose one day a YouTuber will make a video “I arranged 1 million magnets and nudged them!” which will be fun to watch.
A bunch of hydrogen atoms might not look like it has a lot of energy, but nor did the magnets arranged on the table. Given the right kind of nudge though (unbelievably high pressure, and multi-million degree temperatures), the Hydrogen atoms join together to form larger atoms, and give off a lot of energy.
(Unlike magnets, there are limits to this: if the atoms get big enough, it costs energy to merge them, and we can get energy by splitting them)
E = mc^2
Energy in joules = mass * the square of the speed of light in meters per second
The mass of a Hydrogen atom is tiny. The speed of light squared is a gigantic number (~300,000,000*~300,000,000 = 90,000,000,000,000,000).
A tiny number times a gigantic number still results in a very large number.
And a hydrogen bomb doesn’t fuse 2 atoms into 1. It fuses millions of atoms.
A very large number times millions is a LOT of energy.
All the above results in the big boom you see in movies and historical films.
E = mc^2
Energy in joules = mass * the square of the speed of light in meters per second
The mass of a Hydrogen atom is tiny. The speed of light squared is a gigantic number (~300,000,000*~300,000,000 = 90,000,000,000,000,000).
A tiny number times a gigantic number still results in a very large number.
And a hydrogen bomb doesn’t fuse 2 atoms into 1. It fuses millions of atoms.
A very large number times millions is a LOT of energy.
All the above results in the big boom you see in movies and historical films.
>There’s only one electron, which has the energy. How does one atom make a big explosion?
One electron per hydrogen atom, yeah. But who said the bomb is only reacting one atom!?
**One** ***gram*** **of hydrogen has 602,252,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms.** If you get even a little energy from each one, that’s a shitload of energy.
(and yes as others have said, H-bombs are nuclear *fusion* bombs, fusing hydrogen atoms together into helium atoms. That’s the same reaction happening in the sun. By “splitting atoms” you’re thinking of nuclear *fission* bombs, like the ones used in WW2 on Japan. They split uranium atoms into smaller atoms, and have nothing to do with hydrogen. But again, an unfathomably gigantic number of atoms are being split in one bomb, that huge explosion isn’t coming from 1 atom splitting!)
An H-bomb is a fusion weapon. Atoms are combined to make bigger atoms
This is as opposed to a fission bomb, which works by splitting very large atoms into smaller atoms.
The part that is probably really confusing about this is that every fusion bomb also has a fission bomb built into it.
The only place we know of where fusion occurs naturally is at the center of a star where the high temperatures and pressures needed for fusion to occur are present.
The only way we know of to reproduce those conditions outside of a star is the brief moment of time after a fission bomb explodes.
So to create a fusion bomb, you take a fission bomb and pack the fusion bomb material right next to it, such that right after the fission reaction goes off, the conditions will be just right to kick off the fusion reaction in the fusion part of the bomb.
>There’s only one electron, which has the energy. How does one atom make a big explosion?
One electron per hydrogen atom, yeah. But who said the bomb is only reacting one atom!?
**One** ***gram*** **of hydrogen has 602,252,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms.** If you get even a little energy from each one, that’s a shitload of energy.
(and yes as others have said, H-bombs are nuclear *fusion* bombs, fusing hydrogen atoms together into helium atoms. That’s the same reaction happening in the sun. By “splitting atoms” you’re thinking of nuclear *fission* bombs, like the ones used in WW2 on Japan. They split uranium atoms into smaller atoms, and have nothing to do with hydrogen. But again, an unfathomably gigantic number of atoms are being split in one bomb, that huge explosion isn’t coming from 1 atom splitting!)
Latest Answers