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Nuclear bombs use nuclear fission of some heavy element, usually uranium or plutonium. Thermonuclear bombs use the detonation of a fission bomb to ignite the fusion of hydrogen. Such weapons are more powerful than ordinary nuclear weapons because nuclear fusion releases more energy than nuclear fission, and because the process of fusion itself can be used to ignite more fission.

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Q: Why are thermonuclear bombs are more disastrous than nuclear bombs?
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Why are thermonuclear bombs more disastrous than the normal bombs?

much higher yield per bomb.


What was the largest nuclear bomb?

When people talk about nuclear bombs, they are generally in two categories; atomic and thermonuclear. Atomic bombs are like the ones dropped on Japan in 1945.Thermonuclear bombs have never been used in warfare and involve using an atomic bomb to set off an explosion of a thermonuclear bomb, like a hydrogen bomb.IN ADDITION:The Soviet exploded the largest nuclear bomb to date back in 1961. It was a hydrogen bomb which released energy equivalent to 57 megatons of TNT. Compare that to the 15 kilotons of energy released by the first atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima Japan during WWII ( 3,800 times more energy released). The name of this device was Tsar Bomba, meaning "king of bombs."


What is a nuclear buildup?

Making more bombs or bigger bombs.


What was the nuclear bomb made of?

The first nuclear bombs were fission devices. The fissile materials used are Uranium 235 and Plutonium 239. Later bombs were thermonuclear or fusion weapons. The material used in some early experimental devices was tritium ( kept liquid at very low temperature). Modern thermonuclear devices use lithium 6 deuteride. Fusion weapons contain a small fission bomb to set them off. See the Related question for more information.


Why are thermo nuclear bombs more disasterus than nuclear bombs?

because it has heat inside that can burn you to pieces


What is better atomic weapons or nuclear weapons?

Often these terms are used interchangeably to describe "nuclear weapons" since an atomic bomb derives it's energy from a nuclear chain reaction. What you may be referring to is that the original test and subsequent bombs dropped on Japan during WWII were fission bombs with the Trinity test bomb and Nagasaki bomb being implosion style fission bombs using Plutonium and the Hiroshima bomb being a gun style fission bomb using Uranium. Subsequently, the United States began testing the early prototypes of the modern style warheads which are called thermonuclear weapons because they use a fission bomb to ignite a nuclear fusion reaction which produces a substantially larger yield than the initial fission bombs. The first test of a thermonuclear weapon was a hydrogen bomb detonated in 1952. So in terms of yield, the modern style thermonuclear weapons are drastically more efficient than the early fission bombs.


What is the different between a nuclear bomb and an atom bomb?

Nuclear bombs before the 60s were referred to as atom bombs, because the term Nuclear hadn't been discover yet. Nuclear bombs today, are generally Hydrogen bombs, or fusion bombs. They are significantly more powerful, able to places about the size of Rhode Island. Atom bombs,which were mostly uranium and plutonium, lack the destructive power of Nuclear or Fusion bombs.


Are atomic bombs different from nuclear bombs?

Both basically are the same, they can be fission or fusion bombs like Uranium,Plutonium and Hydrogen bombs. A general description would be that atomic bombs are fission bombs. Nuclear bombs are fusion bombs. Fusion bombs are more powerful weight for weight


Does atomic explosion and nuclear explosion mean the same?

This question could be easily misconstrued. While atomic and nuclear explosion mean the same thing, and all atomic bombs are nuclear bombs, not all nuclear bombs are atomic bombs. The more powerful nuclear bombs are hydrogen bombs, and there is a very important fundamental difference between the two. ============================================================== A bomb is fission - the splitting of an atom H bomb is fusion - the joining together of atoms (and much more powerfull)


Where does fission occour?

Nuclear fission occurs in fission reactors, a type of nuclear reactor, and in fission bombs, more commonly knows as atomic bombs.


Who has more nuclear bombs Us or Russia?

At this time Russia.


Why are thermo nuclear bombs more disasterous than nuclear bombs?

They usually have a higher yield.Fission bombs are limited by the laws of physics to about 500kTon to 1MTon yield.Fusion bombs have no such limits, just keep adding stages with more fuel and you can get any yield you want, if you can carry it to the target.