How does a Neutron bomb work ?

Question

How does a Neutron bomb work ?

In: 7

Answer 1

It’s a type of hydrogen bomb. These use a ‘primary’ fission device using uranium or plutonium. In the few millionths of a second after the explosion of the primary , the fission reaction creates a massive amount of X-rays.

These X-rays are used to compress a ‘secondary’ fusion device containing deuterium and lithium. The compression is done by surrounding the secondary with something like a very light plastic. This absorbs the X rays and is heated to millions of degrees Celsius. By heating it so much and so fast, it expands almost instantly and crushes the secondary to start the fusion explosion.

This is just like a conventional H bomb so far. In a traditional H bomb, the device is surrounded by a very dense shell often made of lead or uranium. This ‘radiation case’ confines the explosion for a few millionths of a second, preventing the fusing secondary from expanding and allowing it to fuse further on increasing the size of the explosion.

The fusion reaction between deuterium and tritium generates neutrons. In some cases, they are reflected by the radiation case, but if the bomb has a natural uranium case, they will trigger fission reactions that boost the size of the explosion even further. Many early H bombs actually got much of their yield from this fission reaction – they were also incredibly dirty spilling huge amounts of fallout into the environment.

In the neutron bomb, the case is essentially transparent to the fusion neutrons. They pour out of the bomb and saturate the surrounding area with neutron radiation which can penetrate through thick walls and armour. The bomb itself would still devastate an area around the explosion, but much smaller than if it had been a traditional H bomb.

The neutrons kill living organisms within a relatively small area and don’t leave as much long lasting radioactivity which made the bombs ‘popular’ with planners as a way of using them in scenarios where areas could be occupied by troops shortly after detonating a neutron bomb.