The Hydrogen Bomb

Edward Teller first proposed the hydrogen bomb in 1942, but Oppenheimer, Tell, Los
Alamos, and others began working on it actively in the summer of that same year. The
United States detonated the first thermonuclear bomb at Ennewetak in 1952, and Russia
(then the USSR) detonated the second in 1953. These five countries—which have the ability
to develop nuclear weapons and admit to maintaining a stockpile of them—as well as Great
Britain, France, and China have all successfully detonated thermonuclear bombs. Several
additional countries, including India, Israel, and Pakistan, have either tested thermonuclear
bombs or assert that they have the potential to build them despite publicly denying that
they do so.

What is a Hydrogen Bomb?

Hydrogen bomb is based on nuclear fusion reaction and it deriving a large portion of its
energy from the nuclear fusion of hydrogen isotopes. The hydrogen bomb functions by the
fusion, or joining together, of lighter elements into heavier elements. The hydrogen bomb is
also known as a thermonuclear bomb because extremely high temperatures are required in
order to initiate fusion reactions.

Hydrogen bomb is based on process called “Nuclear fusion”. Nuclear fusion is the process by
which atomic nuclei join together to form a heavier nucleus. The fusion of two nuclei with
lower mass than iron generally releases energy while the fusion of nuclei heavier than iron
absorbs energy. In the simplest case of hydrogen fusion, two protons have to be brought
close enough for their mutual electric repulsion to be overcome by the nuclear force and the
subsequent release of energy.

H2+H3⇒He4+n+Q
Energy release Q=17.6 MeV

Design of hydrogen bomb

All thermonuclear weapons existing in the world today appear to be based on a scheme
usually called the “Teller-Ulam design”. It contains the Staged explosion of fission (primary)
bomb and fusion (secondary bomb). The fusion bomb is triggered by rapid shock driven
compression (Ulam) which is enhanced by radiation pressure (Teller) from released X-ray
and γ-ray flux.
Primary fission device contains: -
core: U239 and U235 plus H2+H3 Booster
shell: U238 Tamper
High explosive lenses
Secondary fusion device contains: -
Radiation Channel
U239 PU spark plug
Li6, H2, H3 fusion cell
U238 Tamper
Design of modern Hydrogen-bomb Hydrogen bomb design is based on a bomb casing
containing implosion fission bomb and a cylinder casing of U238 tamper.

Within the tamper is the Li6 Deuteride fusion fuel and a hollow rod of Pu239 in the centre of
the cylinder. Separating the cylinder from the implosion bomb is a shield of U238 and plastic
foam that fills the remaining space in the bomb casing The detonation of the trigger bomb
will cause the following sequence of events:

1. The fission bomb implodes, emitting X-rays.

2. X-rays heat the interior of the bomb and the tamper prevents premature detonation
of the fuel.
3. The heat causes the tamper to expand and burn away, exerting pressure inward
against the lithium deuterate. The lithium deuterate is squeezed by about 30-fold.
4. The compression shock waves initiates fission in the plutonium rod.
5. The fission rod gives off radiation, heat and neutrons.
6. The neutrons enter the lithium deuterate and generate tritium.
7. The combination of high temperature and pressure is sufficient for tritium-deuterium
and deuterium-deuterium fusion reactions to occur, producing more heat, radiation
and neutrons.
8. The neutrons from the fusion reactions induced fission in the uranium 238 pieces
from the tamper and shield.
9. Fission of the tamper and shield pieces produced even more radiation and heat.
10. The bomb explodes.

USES AND APPLICATIONS

Hydrogen bombs are used as weapons in many countries. Apart from their use as weapons,
nuclear explosives have been also tested and used for various on-military uses. When long
term health and clean-up costs were included, there was no economic advantage over
conventional explosives. Synthetic elements such aseinsteinium and fermium, created by
neutron bombardment of uranium and plutonium during thermonuclear explosions, were
discovered in the first thermonuclear bomb test. In 2008 the worldwide presence of new
isotopes from atmospheric testing beginning in the 1950s was developed into a reliable way
of detecting art forgeries, as all paintings created after that period contain traces ofcesium-
137andstrontium-90, isotopes that did not exist in nature before 1945. An important aspect
of fusion energy in contrast to many other energy sources is that the cost of production is
inelastic. The cost of wind energy, for example, goes up as the optimal locations are
developed first, while further generators must be sited in less ideal conditions. With fusion
energy, the production cost will not increase much, even if large numbers of plants are built.
It has been suggested that even 100 times the current energy consumption of the world is
possible. Some problems which are expected to be an issue in this century such as fresh
water shortages can actually be regarded merely as problems of energy supply. For
example, in desalination plants, sea water can be purified through distillation or reverse
osmosis. However, these processes are energy intensive. Even if the first fusion plants are
not competitive with alternative sources, fusion could still become competitive if large scale
desalination requires more power than the alternatives are able to provide. Despite being
technically non-renewable, fusion power has many of the benefits of long-term renewable
energy sources as well as some of the benefits of the much more limited energy sources as
hydrocarbons and nuclear fission. Like these currently dominant energy sources, fusion could
provide very high power-generation density and uninterrupted power delivery.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

In 1945 an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, it killed at least 70,000 Japanese and
many were injured. It is assumed that the hydrogen bomb is 1000 times more powerful than
an atomic bomb. So if we use fusion power as source of energy rather than weapons then it
should be more beneficial for us. Fusion power would provide much more energy for a given
weight of fuel than any technology currently in use, and the fuel itself (primarily deuterium)
exists abundantly in the Earth’s ocean: about 1 in 6500 hydrogen atoms in seawater is
deuterium. Although this may seem a low proportion (about 0.015%), because nuclear
fusion reactions are so much more energetic than chemical combustion and seawater is
easier to access and more plentiful than fossil fuels, some experts estimate that fusion could
supply the world’s energy needs for millions of years. Therefore, Hydrogen bomb has both
advantages and disadvantages but if we use fusion power as energy source then it should be
more beneficial for all of us.