What is the difference between nuclear and thermonuclear weapon?
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Both refer to nuclear weapons but “thermonuclear” specifically refers to weapons that use nuclear fusion of low-weight atoms (typically hydrogen, hence, hydrogen bomb or H-bomb). Nuclear fission (of uranium or plutonium) can be initiated at any temperature, but fusion only begins to occur at very high temperatures; hence the ‘thermo’ part. But typically with weapons that high temperature is created by first detonating a fission bomb.
First, this isn’t chemistry, or at least it’s not about chemical reactions. Chemistry is the interactions of atoms in molecules, not atoms changing in their atomic number (i.e. number of protons) or changing in their atomic mass (i.e. number of protons and neutrons).
Second, I think you’re asking “what is the difference between *atomic* and thermonuclear weapons?”
An atomic bomb relies on fission, that is, breaking apart very large nuclei, such as uranium or plutonium, to derive its power.
A thermonuclear bomb uses an atomic reaction (fission) to drive a fusion reaction. Fusion, which provides most of the thermonuclear bomb’s power, is combining very small nuclei (of hydrogen, in this case). The sun fuses hydrogen into helium and that reaction is the source of its energy.
That’s the basic difference.
Terminology varies, and since a lot of it is classified there is an element of guesswork involved in exactly how these weapons work, but the general understanding is there are, simplifying slightly, two different kinds of nuclear bombs: fission (ie Uranium and Plutonium) bombs and fusion (ie hydrogen) bombs. A thermonuclear bomb is another term occasionally used for fusion/hydrogen bombs.
Fission is when unstable atoms split, releasing energy, which can cause an explosion if it happens in the form of a runaway chain reaction. Fusion is when stable atoms merge, which can either release energy or absorb energy depending upon if the new configuration is a higher or lower energy state than the old. Hydrogen bombs absorb huge amounts of energy (usually provided by an internal fission bomb) in order to convert hydrogen into helium which, because it is a lower energy state, releases massively more energy even than it absorbed, causing an enormous explosion.
The first nuclear weapons worked by splitting atoms of uranium or plutonium. This was done by shooting a neutron at those uranium or plutonium atoms. This process is called fission. The bombs dropped in Japan during World War 2 worked like that. We called them fission bombs.
However, you can release even more energy (and therefore have even more powerful bombs) if instead of splitting uranium or plutonium atoms, you fuse atoms of hydrogen together. But it takes crazy high temperatures to fuse hydrogen atoms. Like the temperatures you find inside of the Sun or other stars. So in order to accomplish that in a weapon, you detonate a small fission bomb around the hydrogen you want to fuse. That small fission bomb creates a hot enough temperature to fuse the hydrogen atoms, causing an ever bigger and more powerful explosion. We call those thermonuclear weapons or fusion weapons.
So a thermonuclear weapon are two nuclear weapons into one: A small fission bomb serves as the trigger to the fusion bomb.
The ELI5 version.
Some things explode when you break them apart. Uranium. (Nuclear)
Some things explode when you slam them together. Hydrogen. (Thermonuclear)
Nuclear weapons uses energy from splitting a heavy atomic nucleus. Thermonuclear is pretty much the opposite. It uses the energy when two light atomic nucleus combines.
A nuclear weapon is a type of explosive device that gets its power from splitting atoms. When the atoms in a nuclear weapon are split apart, a huge amount of energy is released. This energy causes a very powerful explosion.
On the other hand, a thermonuclear weapon, also known as a hydrogen bomb or H-bomb, is even more powerful than a nuclear bomb. It works by combining atoms together instead of splitting them apart. In the center of a thermonuclear bomb, there is a special kind of reaction called a fusion reaction. It’s like squishing atoms together very tightly. When these atoms combine, they release an enormous amount of energy, much more than a nuclear bomb.
Tldr:
– Nuclear weapons get their power from splitting atoms, causing a big explosion.
– Thermonuclear weapons get their power from combining atoms, creating an even bigger explosion.
Nuclear: uses Uranium to make the entire boom.
Thermonuclear: Uses the boom from uranium as a fuse to ignite an even bigger boom from hydrogen.
The mechanism/reaction in which they explode.
Just plain a plain nuclear weapon relies in a fission reaction.
A thermonuclear weapon relies on a fusion reaction initiated by a fission explosion or conventional explosion focused by lenses.
Respect that the USA would build the most incredibly destructive weapon on the planet (a Nuclear fission weapon) and think, this could be just the detonator for an even more destructive fusion weapon (Thermonuclear weapon). Fusion happens in the sun and can also happen if you capture the energy from a nuclear weapon in just the right way, which is why its “thermo” due to the temperature (aka energy) of the nuclear fusion occurring.
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