is there a lower limit on the size of a nuclear bomb?

Question

And if so, what factors determine it?

I know that the scale of the explosion is an insane amount larger than the teeny molecules causing it, but I’m wondering if there could ever be nuclear explosions small enough to take out a single house or block, rather than a whole city from high above.

In: Physics

Answer 1

There’s not a *hard* limit, but it gets harder and harder to make smaller ones because of how they work. The bomb works by capturing and reusing neutrons released during the reaction, and a smaller bomb tends to lose more neutrons compared to how many it captures.