Monday, January 20, 2014

Hydrogen Bomb

We know that a  thermonuclear fusion reaction involving the fusion of four protons into a helium nucleus or two deuterons into a helium nucleus releases tremendous energy.This energy is produced by the sun for peaceful purposes to sustain our life.But man has made use of  this very energy to create a weapon of destruction-the hydrogen bomb.
Fusion cannot take place at ordinary temperatures.So,initially in the hydrogen bomb we have a small fission bomb which on explosion causes the temperature to rise very high to about 10^7K.At this temperature ,a fusion of lighter nuclei takes place and helium nuclei are formed with the release of tremendous energy in an uncontrolled manner.Since proton is a hydrogen nucleus ,we in a layman's language call this instrument of  destruction as a hydrogen bomb.It is obvious that it's explosive power is greater than that for a fission bomb ;because in reality the hydrogen bomb is a combination of both processes-fission to produce the desired initial high temperature and fusion to produce the extra energy for devastation.We have yet to see how a hydrogen bomb can be used for peaceful purposes.The sun is only an example of this type.
    

No comments: