assuming the ICBM is a nuclear warhead…. Doesn’t the whole process behind a nuclear warhead involve an explosion that propels the nuclear “fuel” to start a chain reaction? i.e. exploding a warhead will essentially be the same as the explosion that causes the isotope to undergo fission?
ig the same can be said about conventional bombs as well but nuclear is more confusing.
In: Chemistry
Yes it’s an explosion, but not just ANY explosion.
The fissible material is arranged in a shape that it’s too far away from each other to trigger a chainreaction. Then a very specific shape of explosives is set off with a very precise timing around it to smash the fissible material into one single blob.
For example the “Implosion Design” uses a hollow sphere with a coat of explosives on the outside to make it collapse into a solid ball.
If you hit a nuke from the outside it’s extremely unlikely that a chainreaction is triggered, because the natural direction of explosions is “away in all directions” and not towards some centerpoint.
Conventional bombs can and do explode when intercepted. Usually it causes not a lot of harm if that happens high in the air though, and the largest problem is falling debris
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