Eli5: Why is it hard to keep the fissile material compressed for a long time in a nuclear bomb ?

Question

Eli5: Why is it hard to keep the fissile material compressed for a long time in a nuclear bomb ?

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Answer 1

Because if you compress it to a certain amount it’ll result in a runaway chain reaction. This is what causes a fission nuclear explosion. At some point, before the entire thing fisses………. splits……….. the outwards pressure from all the energy being released will cause it to expand until it no longer is able to undergo fission and at that point it’s just part of the material being spread all over the place.

So part of the problem with making fission bombs has been working out ways to increasing how much of it you can get to fission before it blows itself apart.