4 ms·
> There isn't much nuclear material in a modern fusion bomb. This isn't a blob of enriched uranium like seen in WWII bombs. This is a very thin and hollow spher
by kobeya 10y ago
> There isn't much nuclear material in a modern fusion bomb. This isn't a blob of enriched uranium like seen in WWII bombs. This is a very thin and hollow sphere of uranium packed with hydrogen and other harmless elements.
What about the primary?
- sandworm101 10y agoPrimary and secondary in todays devices arent as different as they once were in "spark plug" configs. These are boosted weapons. A hollow sphere of fission material is collapsed into a point. Hydrogen is inside to add fusion reactions, increasing the efficiency of the fission reaction without the need of a formal secondary. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boosted_fission_weapon https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boosted_fission_weapon There are also "hourglass" warheads with integrated secondarys that are much smaller than spark plug configs.
- kobeya 10y agoThe point I was making is that the primary is itself a stand-alone nuclear weapon (of low yield, yes, but enough for fission to occur).