• Question: To make a nuclear bomb what syrum would be in it to make it explode

    Asked by The wonder guy(DLang?) to Annette, Dave, Jaine, Julio on 16 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Jaine Blayney

      Jaine Blayney answered on 16 Nov 2016:

      You’d need some uranium. The explosion happens when a free neutron hits the nucleus of an atom (uranium). The uranium nucleus splits into two smaller nuclei, more neutrons, plus energy. The energy is the explosion bit.

    • Photo: Annette Neill

      Annette Neill answered on 17 Nov 2016:

      My limited understanding of nuclear bombs is that they use uranium and plutonium with hydrogen. In an atomic bomb, the splitting of the atom causes nearby nuclei to split but the amount of uranium/plutonium is not as excessive as that used in H-bombs, which are thermonuclear and more explosive!

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