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Nuclear Weapons

Nuclear Weapons. How Do They Work? FYP Presentation By: Wesley Satterfield. Outline. Understanding the Nucleus How a nucleus can change Critical discoveries that made the nuclear bomb possible 4 Conditions that must be met in order to build a bomb Fission Bombs- “Little Boy” & “Fat Man”

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Nuclear Weapons

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  1. Nuclear Weapons How Do They Work? FYP Presentation By: Wesley Satterfield

  2. Outline • Understanding the Nucleus • How a nucleus can change • Critical discoveries that made the nuclear bomb possible • 4 Conditions that must be met in order to build a bomb • Fission Bombs- “Little Boy” & “Fat Man” • Hydrogen Bombs • Usage of these bombs in the military

  3. The Nucleus • Made up of protons and neutrons which are collectively referred to as nucleons • Electrostatic Repulsion- protons trying to push away from one another • Nuclear Force- attractive force and holds nucleus together

  4. Competition Between 2 Forces

  5. Radioactive Decay • Radioactive Decay is when a nucleon will suddenly free itself from one another and electrostatic repulsion will allow them to push apart • Doesn’t obtain the energy needed to surmount the energy barrier • Nuclei with few protons, attractive nuclear force wins over repulsive electrostatic and nucleons stick together • Nuclei with many protons, electrostatic repulsion wins over nuclear force and nuclei decay rapidly • Nuclei in between these two extremes of number of protons, nuclear force and repulsion are in balance

  6. Changes of Nuclei • For a small nucleus to grow, needs more neutrons • NUCLEAR FUSION • For large nucleus to shrink, needs to separate nucleons • NUCLEAR FISSION • Enormous amount of energy released during Fusion and Fission

  7. Critical Discoveries in Advancement of Nuclear Bomb • 1896 Antoine Becquerel accidentally discovered natural radioactive decay • 1911 Ernest Rutherford discovered that atoms have nuclei • 1932 James Chadwick discovered neutron • 1934 Enrico Fermi added neutrons to uranium nuclei • 1938 Pair of Austrian and pair of German physicists showed Fermi actually fragmented uranium into lighter nuclei

  8. 4 Conditions to Satisfy for Making of Fission Bomb • Source of neutrons had to exist in bomb in order to trigger the explosion • Nuclei making up the bomb had to be fissionable • Each induced fission must produce more neutrons than it consumed • Released neutrons had to be used efficiently so that each fission caused an average of more than one additional fission

  9. “Little Boy” • Uranium 235 was optimal choice- Fissionable and released more neutrons than it consumed • 60 kg of Uranium 235 was needed and shaped into a sphere • “Little Boy was exploded over Hiroshima on Aug 6, 1945 • Energy released was equal to 15,000 tons of TNT

  10. “Fat Man” • Used Plutonium instead of Uranium 235 • More available than Uranium 235 • Meets conditions yet is too radioactive • More complicated assembly • “Fat Man” dropped over Nagasaki on Aug 9, 1945 and released an energy equal to 22,000 tons of TNT • “Fat Man” becomes standard

  11. Hydrogen Bomb • Hydrogen doesn’t normally undergo fusion • Fusion bomb fuses hydrogen to produce even more energy • Deuterium- hydrogen atom with 1 neutron and 1 proton and Tritium- hydrogen atom with 2 neutrons and 1 proton fuse to form helium nucleus and a free neutron

  12. Today’s Military Use • Uses “Fat Man” design • Also use hydrogen bombs • Bombs now placed on missiles

  13. Reference Bloomfield, Louis A. “Nuclear Weapons”. How Things Work: The Physics of Everyday Life. Ed. Stuart Johnson. John Wiley & Son, Inc., 2001, pp. 441-450.

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