Social Sciences and the Law

What is the difference between a hydrogen bomb and an atomic bomb?

Link to this answer

CloseClose

Link to this answer

Share this credible answer with others. Simply paste this code into your blog or Web page:

<a href="http://qanda.encyclopedia.com/question/difference-between-hydrogen-bomb-and-atomic-bomb-89786.html" >What is the difference between a hydrogen bomb and an atomic bomb?</a>
E-mail this answer Link to this answer

In an atomic bomb , uranium or plutonium is split into lighter elements that together weigh less than the original atoms, the remainder of the mass appearing as energy. Unlike this fission bomb, the hydrogen bomb functions by the fusion, or joining together, of lighter elements into heavier elements. The end product again weighs less than its components, the difference once more appearing as energy.

Answer verified with
Get more facts and information about hydrogen bomb . Or, view the full encyclopedia entry from The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition.

Similar questions: How do you distinguish between a hydrogen bomb and an atomic bomb? How do you differentiate between a thermonuclear bomb and an atomic bomb? [ Hide these questions ]

Related research questions

Related research articles

Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb
Magazine article from: Airpower Journal ...Making of the Hydrogen Bomb by Richard...Making of the Atomic Bomb, to which Dark...of the hydrogen bomb, in both the...development of the atomic bombs of World War II...mind, and the differences between fission and fusion...
Dounreay helped to build nuclear bombs.(News)
Newspaper article from: Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland) ...build nuclear bombs. Two months ago...And the UK Atomic Energy Authority...denied any link between the Caithness...and turned into hydrogen and atomic bombs. The transfers...There is a subtle difference between the two." Nuclear...
Race to a standoff ; How an American officer pushed to build weapons of mass...
Newspaper article from: The Boston Globe ...neglected story: the race between the Soviet Union and...the newly-invented hydrogen bomb from 40 tons to a missile...militarily significant difference between an atomic and a hydrogen bomb...reaction stops when the atomic bomb's heavy metal...
James B. Conant: Harvard to Hiroshima and the Making of the Nuclear Age.
Magazine article from: The Nation ...first atomic bomb: "a vital...defended the atomic bombing of Hiroshima...building of the hydrogen "super" bomb and opposed atomic energy plants...building of the atomic bomb, he didn...saw no moral difference between killing with...
The red and the blue: Cambridge, treason, and intelligence.
Magazine article from: National Review ...comment, "If I had to choose between betraying my country and my friend...was said, didn't know the difference between a cyclotron and a hairdrier...advisor on the making of Soviet atomic and hydrogen bombs. When he remained in the Soviet...
See all results at HighBeam

HighBeam gives you access to newspaper, magazine, and trade journal articles plus press releases, facts, information, and biographies from thousands of sources.