How does the metal ball used in nuclear weapons work, and how can it be handled without constant fear of exploding?

Question

How does the metal ball used in nuclear weapons work, and how can it be handled without constant fear of exploding?

In: Technology

Answer 1

A nuclear bomb is actually 2 bombs. A hydrogen bomb is actually three bombs.

First is some conventional explosive like C4 or dynamite if you want to imagine something really basic. This explosion is necessary to cause the “metal ball” to explode. When the metal ball goes off that is basically the second bomb.

The second bomb (the nuclear part) cannot explode unless the first one explodes and does so in a **very** special manner. I wouldn’t recommend this but one way to disable a nuclear bomb is actually to blow it up. If you mess up the special explosive then it cannot go nuclear but it will still be a dirty bomb which is its own thing.

For hydrogen bombs after the second part goes off (nuclear fission) the explosion will cause the third explosion to happen which comes from hydrogen fusion. Again this requires the second part to explode in a very special way to cause the third bomb to go off.