The history of the hydrogen bomb from the nuclear. How thermonuclear bombs "rust". From atomic weapons to thermonuclear

On January 16, 1963, Nikita Khrushchev announced the creation of a hydrogen bomb in the USSR. And this is another occasion to recall the scale of its devastating consequences and the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction.

On January 16, 1963, Nikita Khrushchev announced that a hydrogen bomb had been created in the USSR, after which nuclear tests were stopped. The Caribbean crisis of 1962 showed how fragile and defenseless the world can be against the backdrop of a nuclear threat, so in a senseless race to destroy each other, the USSR and the USA were able to reach a compromise and sign the first treaty that regulated the development of nuclear weapons, the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. in the atmosphere, space and under water, to which many countries of the world subsequently joined.

In the USSR and the USA, nuclear weapons tests have been conducted since the mid-1940s. The theoretical possibility of obtaining energy by thermonuclear fusion was known even before the Second World War. It is also known that in Germany in 1944, work was underway to initiate thermonuclear fusion by compressing nuclear fuel using conventional explosive charges, but they were unsuccessful because they could not obtain the required temperatures and pressures.

Over the 15 years of testing nuclear weapons in the USSR and the USA, many discoveries were made in the field of chemistry and physics, which led to the production of two types of bombs - atomic and hydrogen. The principle of their operation is slightly different: if the explosion of an atomic bomb leads to the decay of the nucleus, then the hydrogen bomb explodes due to the synthesis of elements with the release of an enormous amount of energy. It is this reaction that takes place in the interiors of stars, where, under the influence of ultrahigh temperatures and gigantic pressure, hydrogen nuclei collide and merge into heavier helium nuclei. The resulting amount of energy is enough to start a chain reaction involving all possible hydrogen. That is why the stars do not go out, and the explosion of a hydrogen bomb has such destructive power.

How it works?

Scientists copied this reaction using liquid isotopes of hydrogen - deuterium and tritium, which gave the name "hydrogen bomb". Subsequently, lithium-6 deuteride, a solid compound of deuterium and an isotope of lithium, was used, which in its chemical properties is an analogue of hydrogen. Thus, lithium-6 deuteride is a bomb fuel and, in fact, turns out to be more “clean” than uranium-235 or plutonium, which are used in atomic bombs and cause powerful radiation. However, in order for the hydrogen reaction itself to start, something must very strongly and dramatically increase the temperatures inside the projectile, for which a conventional nuclear charge is used. But the container for thermonuclear fuel is made from radioactive uranium-238, alternating it with layers of deuterium, which is why the first Soviet bombs of this type were called "layers". It is because of them that all living things, even at a distance of hundreds of kilometers from the explosion and surviving the explosion, can receive a dose of radiation that will lead to serious illness and death.

Why does the explosion form a "mushroom"?

In fact, a mushroom-shaped cloud is an ordinary physical phenomenon. Such clouds are formed during ordinary explosions of sufficient power, during volcanic eruptions, strong fires and meteorite falls. Hot air always rises above cold air, but here it heats up so quickly and so powerfully that it rises in a visible column, twists into an annular vortex and pulls a "leg" behind it - a column of dust and smoke from the surface of the earth. Rising, the air gradually cools, becoming like an ordinary cloud due to the condensation of water vapor. However, that's not all. Much more dangerous for humans shock wave, diverging along the surface of the earth from the epicenter of the explosion along a circle with a radius of up to 700 km, and radioactive fallout falling from that same mushroom cloud.

60 Soviet hydrogen bombs

Until 1963, more than 200 nuclear test explosions were carried out in the USSR, 60 of which were thermonuclear, that is, in this case, not an atomic bomb, but a hydrogen bomb exploded. Three or four experiments could be carried out at the test sites per day, during which the dynamics of the explosion, striking abilities, and potential damage to the enemy were studied.

The first prototype was blown up on August 27, 1949, and the last test of a nuclear weapon in the USSR was made on December 25, 1962. All tests took place mainly at two sites - at the Semipalatinsk test site or "Siyap", located on the territory of Kazakhstan, and on Novaya Zemlya, an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean.

August 12, 1953: The first test of the hydrogen bomb in the USSR

The first hydrogen explosion was carried out in the United States in 1952 on the Eniwetok Atoll. There they carried out an explosion of a charge with a capacity of 10.4 megatons, which was 450 times the power of the Fat Man bomb dropped on Nagasaki. However, it is impossible to call this device a bomb in the truest sense of the word. It was a three-story building filled with liquid deuterium.

But the first thermonuclear weapon in the USSR was tested in August 1953 at the Semipalatinsk test site. It was already a real bomb dropped from an airplane. The project was developed in 1949 (even before the first Soviet nuclear bomb was tested) by Andrei Sakharov and Yuli Khariton. The power of the explosion was equivalent to 400 kilotons, but studies have shown that the power could be increased to 750 kilotons, since only 20% of the fuel was used up in a thermonuclear reaction.

The most powerful bomb in the world

The most powerful explosion in history was initiated by a group of nuclear physicists led by Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences I.V. Kurchatov on October 30, 1961 at the Dry Nose training ground on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. The measured power of the explosion was 58.6 megatons, which was many times higher than all experimental explosions carried out on the territory of the USSR or the USA. It was originally planned that the bomb would be even larger and more powerful, but there was not a single aircraft that could lift more weight into the air.

The fireball of the explosion reached a radius of approximately 4.6 kilometers. Theoretically, it could grow to the surface of the earth, but this was prevented by a reflected shock wave, which lifted the bottom of the ball and threw it away from the surface. Nuclear mushroom explosion rose to a height of 67 kilometers (for comparison: modern passenger aircraft fly at an altitude of 8-11 kilometers). The appreciable wave of atmospheric pressure that arose as a result of the explosion circled the globe three times, spreading in just a few seconds, and the sound wave reached Dikson Island at a distance of about 800 kilometers from the epicenter of the explosion (the distance from Moscow to St. Petersburg). Everything at a distance of two or three kilometers was contaminated with radiation.

The hydrogen or thermonuclear bomb became the cornerstone of the arms race between the US and the USSR. The two superpowers have been arguing for several years about who will be the first owner of a new type of destructive weapon.

thermonuclear weapons project

At the beginning of the Cold War, the test of the hydrogen bomb was the most important argument for the leadership of the USSR in the fight against the United States. Moscow wanted to achieve nuclear parity with Washington and invested huge amounts of money in the arms race. However, work on the creation of a hydrogen bomb began not thanks to generous funding, but because of reports from secret agents in America. In 1945, the Kremlin learned that the United States was preparing to create a new weapon. It was a super-bomb, the project of which was called Super.

The source of valuable information was Klaus Fuchs, an employee of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the USA. He gave the Soviet Union specific information that concerned the secret American developments of the superbomb. By 1950, the Super project was thrown into the trash, as it became clear to Western scientists that such a scheme for a new weapon could not be implemented. The head of this program was Edward Teller.

In 1946, Klaus Fuchs and John developed the ideas of the Super project and patented their own system. Fundamentally new in it was the principle of radioactive implosion. In the USSR, this scheme began to be considered a little later - in 1948. In general, we can say that at the initial stage it was completely based on American information received by intelligence. But, continuing research on the basis of these materials, Soviet scientists were noticeably ahead of their Western counterparts, which allowed the USSR to first obtain the first, and then the most powerful thermonuclear bomb.

On December 17, 1945, at a meeting of a special committee established under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, nuclear physicists Yakov Zel'dovich, Isaak Pomeranchuk and Julius Khartion made a report "Using the nuclear energy of light elements." This paper considered the possibility of using a deuterium bomb. This speech was the beginning of the Soviet nuclear program.

In 1946, theoretical studies of the hoist were carried out at the Institute of Chemical Physics. The first results of this work were discussed at one of the meetings of the Scientific and Technical Council in the First Main Directorate. Two years later, Lavrenty Beria instructed Kurchatov and Khariton to analyze materials about the von Neumann system, which were delivered to the Soviet Union thanks to covert agents in the west. The data from these documents gave an additional impetus to the research, thanks to which the RDS-6 project was born.

Evie Mike and Castle Bravo

On November 1, 1952, the Americans tested the world's first thermonuclear bomb. It was not yet a bomb, but already its most important component. The explosion occurred on the Enivotek Atoll, in the Pacific Ocean. and Stanislav Ulam (each of them is actually the creator of the hydrogen bomb) shortly before developed a two-stage design, which the Americans tested. The device could not be used as a weapon, as it was produced using deuterium. In addition, it was distinguished by its enormous weight and dimensions. Such a projectile simply could not be dropped from an aircraft.

The test of the first hydrogen bomb was carried out by Soviet scientists. After the United States learned about the successful use of the RDS-6s, it became clear that it was necessary to close the gap with the Russians in the arms race as soon as possible. The American test passed on March 1, 1954. Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands was chosen as the test site. The Pacific archipelagos were not chosen by chance. There was almost no population here (and those few people who lived on nearby islands were evicted on the eve of the experiment).

The most devastating American hydrogen bomb explosion became known as "Castle Bravo". The charge power turned out to be 2.5 times higher than expected. The explosion led to radiation contamination of a large area (many islands and the Pacific Ocean), which led to a scandal and a revision of the nuclear program.

Development of RDS-6s

The project of the first Soviet thermonuclear bomb was named RDS-6s. The plan was written by the outstanding physicist Andrei Sakharov. In 1950, the Council of Ministers of the USSR decided to concentrate work on the creation of new weapons in KB-11. According to this decision, a group of scientists led by Igor Tamm went to the closed Arzamas-16.

Especially for this grandiose project, the Semipalatinsk test site was prepared. Before the test of the hydrogen bomb began, numerous measuring, filming and recording devices were installed there. In addition, on behalf of scientists, almost two thousand indicators appeared there. The area affected by the hydrogen bomb test included 190 structures.

The Semipalatinsk experiment was unique not only because of the new type of weapon. Unique intakes designed for chemical and radioactive samples were used. Only a powerful shock wave could open them. Recording and filming devices were installed in specially prepared fortified structures on the surface and in underground bunkers.

alarm clock

Back in 1946, Edward Teller, who worked in the United States, developed the RDS-6s prototype. It was called Alarm Clock. Initially, the project of this device was proposed as an alternative to Super. In April 1947, a whole series of experiments began at the Los Alamos laboratory to investigate the nature of thermonuclear principles.

From the Alarm Clock, scientists expected the greatest energy release. In the fall, Teller decided to use lithium deuteride as fuel for the device. Researchers had not yet used this substance, but they expected that it would increase efficiency. Interestingly, Teller already noted in his memos the dependence of the nuclear program on the further development of computers. This technique was needed by scientists for more accurate and complex calculations.

Alarm Clock and RDS-6s had much in common, but they differed in many ways. The American version was not as practical as the Soviet one due to its size. He inherited the large size from the Super project. In the end, the Americans had to abandon this development. The last studies took place in 1954, after which it became clear that the project was unprofitable.

Explosion of the first thermonuclear bomb

The first test of a hydrogen bomb in human history took place on August 12, 1953. In the morning, a bright flash appeared on the horizon, which blinded even through goggles. The RDS-6s explosion turned out to be 20 times more powerful than an atomic bomb. The experiment was considered successful. Scientists were able to achieve an important technological breakthrough. For the first time, lithium hydride was used as a fuel. Within a radius of 4 kilometers from the epicenter of the explosion, the wave destroyed all the buildings.

Subsequent tests of the hydrogen bomb in the USSR were based on the experience gained using the RDS-6s. This devastating weapon was not only the most powerful. An important advantage of the bomb was its compactness. The projectile was placed in the Tu-16 bomber. Success allowed Soviet scientists to get ahead of the Americans. In the USA at that time there was a thermonuclear device, the size of a house. It was non-transportable.

When Moscow announced that the USSR's hydrogen bomb was ready, Washington disputed this information. The main argument of the Americans was the fact that the thermonuclear bomb should be manufactured according to the Teller-Ulam scheme. It was based on the principle of radiation implosion. This project will be implemented in the USSR in two years, in 1955.

The physicist Andrei Sakharov made the greatest contribution to the creation of the RDS-6s. The hydrogen bomb was his brainchild - it was he who proposed the revolutionary technical solutions that made it possible to successfully complete tests at the Semipalatinsk test site. Young Sakharov immediately became an academician at the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, and other scientists also received awards and medals as a Hero of Socialist Labor: Yuli Khariton, Kirill Shchelkin, Yakov Zeldovich, Nikolai Dukhov, etc. In 1953, a hydrogen bomb test showed that Soviet science could overcome what until recently seemed fiction and fantasy. Therefore, immediately after the successful explosion of the RDS-6s, the development of even more powerful projectiles began.

RDS-37

On November 20, 1955, another test of the hydrogen bomb took place in the USSR. This time it was two-stage and corresponded to the Teller-Ulam scheme. The RDS-37 bomb was about to be dropped from an aircraft. However, when he took to the air, it became clear that the tests would have to be carried out in an emergency. Contrary to forecasts of weather forecasters, the weather deteriorated noticeably, due to which dense clouds covered the test site.

For the first time, experts were forced to land a plane with a thermonuclear bomb on board. For some time there was a discussion at the Central Command Post about what to do next. A proposal was considered to drop the bomb on the mountains nearby, but this option was rejected as too risky. Meanwhile, the plane continued to circle near the landfill, producing fuel.

Zel'dovich and Sakharov received the decisive word. A hydrogen bomb that did not explode at a test site would have led to disaster. Scientists understood the full degree of risk and their own responsibility, and yet they gave written confirmation that the landing of the aircraft would be safe. Finally, the commander of the Tu-16 crew, Fyodor Golovashko, received the command to land. The landing was very smooth. The pilots showed all their skills and did not panic in a critical situation. The maneuver was perfect. The Central Command Post let out a breath of relief.

The creator of the hydrogen bomb Sakharov and his team have postponed the tests. The second attempt was scheduled for 22 November. On this day, everything went without emergency situations. The bomb was dropped from a height of 12 kilometers. While the projectile was falling, the plane managed to retire to a safe distance from the epicenter of the explosion. A few minutes later, the nuclear mushroom reached a height of 14 kilometers, and its diameter was 30 kilometers.

The explosion was not without tragic incidents. From the shock wave at a distance of 200 kilometers, glass was knocked out, which caused several people to suffer. A girl who lived in a neighboring village also died, on which the ceiling collapsed. Another victim was a soldier who was in a special waiting area. The soldier fell asleep in the dugout, and he died of suffocation before his comrades could pull him out.

Development of the "Tsar bomb"

In 1954, the best nuclear physicists of the country, under the leadership, began the development of the most powerful thermonuclear bomb in the history of mankind. Andrey Sakharov, Viktor Adamsky, Yuri Babaev, Yuri Smirnov, Yuri Trutnev, etc. also took part in this project. Due to its power and size, the bomb became known as the Tsar Bomba. Project participants later recalled that this phrase appeared after Khrushchev's famous statement about "Kuzka's mother" at the UN. Officially, the project was called AN602.

Over the seven years of development, the bomb has gone through several reincarnations. At first, scientists planned to use uranium components and the Jekyll-Hyde reaction, but later this idea had to be abandoned due to the danger of radioactive contamination.

Trial on New Earth

For some time, the Tsar Bomba project was frozen, as Khrushchev was going to the United States, and there was a short pause in the Cold War. In 1961, the conflict between the countries flared up again and in Moscow they again remembered thermonuclear weapons. Khrushchev announced the upcoming tests in October 1961 during the XXII Congress of the CPSU.

On the 30th, a Tu-95V with a bomb on board took off from Olenya and headed for Novaya Zemlya. The plane reached the target for two hours. Another Soviet hydrogen bomb was dropped at an altitude of 10.5 thousand meters above the Dry Nose nuclear test site. The shell exploded while still in the air. A fireball appeared, which reached a diameter of three kilometers and almost touched the ground. According to scientists, the seismic wave from the explosion crossed the planet three times. The impact was felt a thousand kilometers away, and all living things at a distance of a hundred kilometers could receive third-degree burns (this did not happen, since the area was uninhabited).

At that time, the most powerful US thermonuclear bomb was four times less powerful than the Tsar Bomba. The Soviet leadership was pleased with the result of the experiment. In Moscow, they got what they wanted so much from the next hydrogen bomb. The test showed that the USSR has weapons much more powerful than the United States. In the future, the devastating record of the Tsar Bomba was never broken. The most powerful explosion of the hydrogen bomb was a milestone in the history of science and the Cold War.

Thermonuclear weapons of other countries

British development of the hydrogen bomb began in 1954. The project leader was William Penney, who had previously been a member of the Manhattan Project in the United States. The British had crumbs of information about the structure of thermonuclear weapons. American allies did not share this information. Washington cited the 1946 Atomic Energy Act. The only exception for the British was permission to observe the tests. In addition, they used aircraft to collect samples left after the explosions of American shells.

At first, in London, they decided to limit themselves to the creation of a very powerful atomic bomb. Thus began the testing of the Orange Herald. During them, the most powerful non-thermonuclear bomb in the history of mankind was dropped. Its disadvantage was excessive cost. On November 8, 1957, a hydrogen bomb was tested. The history of the creation of the British two-stage device is an example of successful progress in the conditions of lagging behind the two superpowers arguing with each other.

In China, the hydrogen bomb appeared in 1967, in France - in 1968. Thus, there are five states in the club of countries possessing thermonuclear weapons today. Information about the hydrogen bomb in North Korea remains controversial. The head of the DPRK stated that his scientists were able to develop such a projectile. During the tests, seismologists from different countries recorded seismic activity caused by a nuclear explosion. But there is still no specific information about the hydrogen bomb in the DPRK.

The atomic bomb and hydrogen bomb are powerful weapons that use nuclear reactions as a source of explosive energy. Scientists first developed nuclear weapons technology during World War II.

Atomic bombs were only used twice in real war, and both times by the United States against Japan at the end of World War II. After the war, a period of nuclear proliferation followed, and during the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed for dominance in the global nuclear arms race.

What is a hydrogen bomb, how it is arranged, the principle of operation of a thermonuclear charge, and when the first tests were carried out in the USSR are written below.

How an atomic bomb works

After the German physicists Otto Hahn, Lisa Meitner and Fritz Strassmann discovered the phenomenon of nuclear fission in Berlin in 1938, it became possible to create weapons of extraordinary power.

When an atom of radioactive material splits into lighter atoms, there is a sudden, powerful release of energy.

The discovery of nuclear fission opened up the possibility of using nuclear technology, including weapons.

An atomic bomb is a weapon that derives its explosive energy only from a fission reaction.

The principle of operation of a hydrogen bomb or a thermonuclear charge is based on a combination of nuclear fission and nuclear fusion.

Nuclear fusion is another type of reaction in which lighter atoms combine to release energy. For example, as a result of a nuclear fusion reaction, deuterium and tritium atoms form a helium atom with the release of energy.

Manhattan Project

The Manhattan Project is the code name for an American project to develop a practical atomic bomb during World War II. The Manhattan Project was started as a response to the efforts of German scientists working on weapons using nuclear technology since the 1930s.

On December 28, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt authorized the creation of the Manhattan Project to bring together various scientists and military officials working on nuclear research.

Much of the work was done in Los Alamos, New Mexico, under the direction of theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer.

On July 16, 1945, in a remote desert location near Alamogordo, New Mexico, the first atomic bomb, equivalent in yield to 20 kilotons of TNT, was successfully tested. The explosion of the hydrogen bomb created a huge mushroom cloud about 150 meters high and ushered in the atomic age.

The only photo of the world's first atomic explosion, taken by American physicist Jack Aeby

Kid and Fat Man

Scientists at Los Alamos had developed two different types of atomic bombs by 1945—a uranium-based project called the Kid and a plutonium-based weapon called the Fat Man.

While the war in Europe ended in April, fighting in the Pacific continued between Japanese and US forces.

In late July, President Harry Truman called for Japan's surrender in the Potsdam Declaration. The declaration promised "rapid and utter destruction" if Japan did not surrender.

On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped its first atomic bomb from a B-29 bomber called the Enola Gay on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

The explosion of the "Kid" corresponded to 13 kilotons of TNT, leveled five square miles of the city and instantly killed 80,000 people. Tens of thousands of people would later die from radiation exposure.

The Japanese continued to fight, and the United States dropped a second atomic bomb three days later on the city of Nagasaki. The Fat Man explosion killed about 40,000 people.

Citing the destructive power of the "new and most brutal bomb", Japanese Emperor Hirohito announced his country's surrender on August 15, ending World War II.

Cold War

In the post-war years, the United States was the only country with nuclear weapons. At first, the USSR did not have enough scientific developments and raw materials to create nuclear warheads.

But, thanks to the efforts of Soviet scientists, intelligence data and discovered regional sources of uranium in Eastern Europe, on August 29, 1949, the USSR tested its first nuclear bomb. The hydrogen bomb device was developed by Academician Sakharov.

From atomic weapons to thermonuclear

The United States responded in 1950 by launching a program to develop more advanced thermonuclear weapons. The Cold War arms race began, and nuclear testing and research became wide-ranging targets for several countries, especially the United States and the Soviet Union.

this year, the United States detonated a 10 megaton TNT thermonuclear bomb

1955 - The USSR responded with its first thermonuclear test - only 1.6 megatons. But the main successes of the Soviet military-industrial complex were ahead. In 1958 alone, the USSR tested 36 nuclear bombs of various classes. But nothing that the Soviet Union experienced can compare with the Tsar Bomb.

Test and first explosion of a hydrogen bomb in the USSR

On the morning of October 30, 1961, a Soviet Tu-95 bomber took off from the Olenya airfield on the Kola Peninsula in Russia's far north.

The plane was a specially modified version that appeared in service a few years ago - a huge four-engine monster tasked with carrying the Soviet nuclear arsenal.

A modified version of the TU-95 "Bear", specially prepared for the first test of the hydrogen Tsar bomb in the USSR

The Tu-95 carried a huge 58-megaton bomb under it, a device too large to fit inside the plane's bomb bay, where such munitions were normally transported. An 8 m long bomb had a diameter of about 2.6 m and weighed more than 27 tons and remained in history with the name Tsar Bomba - “Tsar Bomba”.

The Tsar Bomba was not an ordinary nuclear bomb. It was the result of strenuous efforts by Soviet scientists to create the most powerful nuclear weapon.

Tupolev had reached his target point, Novaya Zemlya, a sparsely populated archipelago in the Barents Sea, above the frozen northern reaches of the USSR.

Tsar Bomba exploded at 11:32 Moscow time. The results of the hydrogen bomb test in the USSR demonstrated the entire bouquet of damaging factors of this type of weapon. Before answering the question of which is more powerful, an atomic or a hydrogen bomb, one should know that the power of the latter is measured in megatons, while that of atomic bombs is measured in kilotons.

light emission

In the blink of an eye, the bomb created a fireball seven kilometers wide. The fireball pulsed with the force of its own shockwave. The flash could be seen thousands of kilometers away - in Alaska, Siberia and Northern Europe.

shock wave

The consequences of the explosion of the hydrogen bomb on Novaya Zemlya were catastrophic. In the village of Severny, about 55 km from Ground Zero, all the houses were completely destroyed. It was reported that on Soviet territory, hundreds of kilometers from the explosion zone, everything was damaged - houses were destroyed, roofs fell, doors were damaged, windows were destroyed.

The range of a hydrogen bomb is several hundred kilometers.

Depending on the power of the charge and damaging factors.

The sensors recorded the blast wave that circled the Earth not once, not twice, but three times. The sound wave was recorded near Dixon Island at a distance of about 800 km.

electromagnetic pulse

For more than an hour, radio communications were disrupted throughout the Arctic.

penetrating radiation

The crew received some dose of radiation.

Radioactive contamination of the area

The explosion of the Tsar bomb on Novaya Zemlya turned out to be surprisingly “clean”. The testers arrived at the point of explosion two hours later. The radiation level in this place did not pose a great danger - no more than 1 mR / hour in a radius of only 2-3 km. The reasons were the design features of the bomb and the execution of the explosion at a sufficiently large distance from the surface.

thermal radiation

Despite the fact that the carrier aircraft, covered with a special light and heat-reflecting paint, had gone 45 km at the time of the bombing, it returned to the base with significant thermal damage to the skin. In an unprotected person, the radiation would cause third-degree burns at distances up to 100 km.

	The mushroom after the explosion is visible at a distance of 160 km, the diameter of the cloud at the time of shooting is 56 km
	Flash from the explosion of the Tsar bomb, about 8 km in diameter

How the hydrogen bomb works

Hydrogen bomb device.

The primary stage acts as a switch - trigger. The plutonium fission reaction in the trigger initiates a thermonuclear fusion reaction in the secondary stage, at which the temperature inside the bomb instantly reaches 300 million °C. A thermonuclear explosion occurs. The first test of the hydrogen bomb shocked the world community with its destructive power.

Video of an explosion at a nuclear test site

There are many different political clubs in the world. Big, now already, seven, G20, BRICS, SCO, NATO, European Union, to some extent. However, none of these clubs can boast a unique function - the ability to destroy the world as we know it. The "nuclear club" possesses similar possibilities.

To date, there are 9 countries with nuclear weapons:

• Russia;
• United Kingdom;
• France;
• India
• Pakistan;
• Israel;
• DPRK.

Countries are ranked according to the appearance of nuclear weapons in their arsenal. If the list were built by the number of warheads, then Russia would be in first place with its 8,000 units, 1,600 of which can be launched right now. The states are only 700 units behind, but "at hand" they have 320 more charges. "Nuclear club" is a purely conditional concept, in fact there is no club. There are a number of agreements between the countries on non-proliferation and the reduction of stockpiles of nuclear weapons.

The first tests of the atomic bomb, as you know, were carried out by the United States back in 1945. This weapon was tested in the "field" conditions of the Second World War on the inhabitants of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They operate on the principle of division. During the explosion, a chain reaction is started, which provokes the fission of the nuclei into two, with the accompanying release of energy. Uranium and plutonium are mainly used for this reaction. It is with these elements that our ideas about what nuclear bombs are made of are connected. Since uranium occurs in nature only as a mixture of three isotopes, of which only one is capable of supporting such a reaction, it is necessary to enrich uranium. The alternative is plutonium-239, which does not occur naturally and must be produced from uranium.

If a fission reaction takes place in a uranium bomb, then a fusion reaction occurs in a hydrogen bomb - this is the essence of how a hydrogen bomb differs from an atomic bomb. We all know that the sun gives us light, warmth, and one might say life. The same processes that take place in the sun can easily destroy cities and countries. The explosion of a hydrogen bomb was born by the fusion reaction of light nuclei, the so-called thermonuclear fusion. This "miracle" is possible thanks to hydrogen isotopes - deuterium and tritium. That is why the bomb is called a hydrogen bomb. You can also see the name "thermonuclear bomb", from the reaction that underlies this weapon.

After the world saw the destructive power of nuclear weapons, in August 1945, the USSR began a race that continued until its collapse. The United States was the first to create, test and use nuclear weapons, the first to detonate a hydrogen bomb, but the USSR can be credited with the first production of a compact hydrogen bomb that can be delivered to the enemy on a conventional Tu-16. The first US bomb was the size of a three-story house, a hydrogen bomb of this size is of little use. The Soviets received such weapons as early as 1952, while the first "adequate" US bomb was adopted only in 1954. If you look back and analyze the explosions in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, you can conclude that they were not so powerful. . Two bombs in total destroyed both cities and killed, according to various sources, up to 220,000 people. Carpet bombing Tokyo in a day could take the lives of 150-200,000 people without any nuclear weapons. This is due to the low power of the first bombs - only a few tens of kilotons of TNT. Hydrogen bombs were tested with an eye to overcoming 1 megaton or more.

The first Soviet bomb was tested with a claim of 3 Mt, but in the end 1.6 Mt was tested.

The most powerful hydrogen bomb was tested by the Soviets in 1961. Its capacity reached 58-75 Mt, while the declared 51 Mt. "Tsar" plunged the world into a slight shock, in the literal sense. The shock wave circled the planet three times. There was not a single hill left at the test site (Novaya Zemlya), the explosion was heard at a distance of 800 km. The fireball reached a diameter of almost 5 km, the “mushroom” grew by 67 km, and the diameter of its cap was almost 100 km. The consequences of such an explosion in a large city are hard to imagine. According to many experts, it was the test of a hydrogen bomb of such power (the United States at that time had four times less bombs in strength) that was the first step towards signing various treaties to ban nuclear weapons, test them and reduce production. The world for the first time thought about its own security, which was really under threat.

As mentioned earlier, the principle of operation of a hydrogen bomb is based on a fusion reaction. Thermonuclear fusion is the process of fusion of two nuclei into one, with the formation of a third element, the release of a fourth and energy. The forces that repel the nuclei are colossal, so for the atoms to get close enough to merge, the temperature must be simply enormous. Scientists have been puzzling over cold thermonuclear fusion for centuries, trying to bring the fusion temperature down to room temperature, ideally. In this case, humanity will have access to the energy of the future. As for thermonuclear reaction today, it still requires lighting a miniature sun here on Earth to start it - usually bombs use a uranium or plutonium charge to start the fusion.

In addition to the consequences described above from the use of a bomb of tens of megatons, a hydrogen bomb, like any nuclear weapon, has a number of consequences from its use. Some people tend to think that the hydrogen bomb is a "cleaner weapon" than a conventional bomb. Perhaps it has something to do with the name. People hear the word "water" and think that it has something to do with water and hydrogen, and therefore the consequences are not so dire. In fact, this is certainly not the case, because the action of the hydrogen bomb is based on extremely radioactive substances. It is theoretically possible to make a bomb without a uranium charge, but this is impractical due to the complexity of the process, so the pure fusion reaction is "diluted" with uranium to increase power. At the same time, the amount of radioactive fallout grows to 1000%. Everything that enters the fireball will be destroyed, the zone in the radius of destruction will become uninhabitable for people for decades. Radioactive fallout can harm people's health hundreds and thousands of kilometers away. Specific figures, the area of ​​infection can be calculated, knowing the strength of the charge.

However, the destruction of cities is not the worst thing that can happen "thanks" to weapons of mass destruction. After a nuclear war, the world will not be completely destroyed. Thousands of large cities, billions of people will remain on the planet, and only a small percentage of territories will lose their status as “livable”. In the long term, the whole world will be at risk due to the so-called "nuclear winter". Undermining the nuclear arsenal of the "club" can provoke the release into the atmosphere of a sufficient amount of matter (dust, soot, smoke) to "diminish" the brightness of the sun. A veil that can spread across the planet will destroy crops for several years to come, provoking famine and inevitable population decline. There has already been a “year without a summer” in history, after a major volcanic eruption in 1816, so a nuclear winter looks more than real. Again, depending on how the war proceeds, we can get the following types of global climate change:

• cooling by 1 degree, will pass unnoticed;
• nuclear autumn - cooling by 2-4 degrees, crop failures and increased formation of hurricanes are possible;
• an analogue of "a year without summer" - when the temperature dropped significantly, by several degrees per year;
• the little ice age - the temperature can drop by 30 - 40 degrees for a considerable time, will be accompanied by depopulation of a number of northern zones and crop failures;
• ice age - the development of a small ice age, when the reflection of sunlight from the surface can reach a certain critical level and the temperature will continue to fall, the difference is only in temperature;
• irreversible cooling is a very sad version of the ice age, which, under the influence of many factors, will turn the Earth into a new planet.

The nuclear winter theory is constantly criticized, its consequences seem a little overblown. However, one should not doubt its imminent offensive in any global conflict with the use of hydrogen bombs.

The Cold War is long over, and therefore, nuclear hysteria can only be seen in old Hollywood films and on the covers of rare magazines and comics. Despite this, we may be on the verge of a serious nuclear conflict, if not a big one. All this thanks to the lover of rockets and the hero of the fight against the imperialist habits of the United States - Kim Jong-un. The DPRK hydrogen bomb is still a hypothetical object, only circumstantial evidence speaks of its existence. Of course, the North Korean government constantly reports that they have managed to make new bombs, so far no one has seen them live. Naturally, the States and their allies, Japan and South Korea, are a little more concerned about the presence, even if hypothetical, of such weapons in the DPRK. The reality is that at the moment, the DPRK does not have enough technology to successfully attack the United States, which they announce to the whole world every year. Even an attack on neighboring Japan or the South may not be very successful, if at all, but every year the danger of a new conflict on the Korean peninsula is growing.

How Soviet physicists made the hydrogen bomb, what pros and cons this terrible weapon carried, read in the History of Science section.

After the Second World War, it was still impossible to talk about the actual onset of peace - the two major world powers entered into an arms race. One of the facets of this conflict was the confrontation between the USSR and the USA in the creation of nuclear weapons. In 1945, the United States, the first to silently enter the race, dropped nuclear bombs on the infamous cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the Soviet Union, work was also underway to create nuclear weapons, and in 1949 they tested the first atomic bomb, the working substance in which was plutonium. Even during its development, Soviet intelligence found out that the United States had switched to developing a more powerful bomb. This prompted the USSR to engage in the manufacture of thermonuclear weapons.

The intelligence officers could not find out what results the Americans had achieved, and the attempts of the Soviet nuclear scientists were unsuccessful. Therefore, it was decided to create a bomb, the explosion of which would occur due to the fusion of light nuclei, and not the fission of heavy ones, as in an atomic bomb. In the spring of 1950, work began on the creation of a bomb, which later received the name RDS-6s. Among its developers was the future Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov, who proposed the idea of ​​a charge design back in 1948, but later opposed nuclear testing.

Andrey Sakharov

Vladimir Fedorenko/Wikimedia Commons

Sakharov proposed covering the plutonium core with several layers of light and heavy elements, namely uranium and deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen. Subsequently, however, it was proposed to replace deuterium with lithium deuteride - this greatly simplified the design of the charge and its operation. An additional advantage was that from lithium, after being bombarded with neutrons, another isotope of hydrogen, tritium, is obtained. Reacting with deuterium, tritium releases much more energy. In addition, lithium also slows down neutrons better. This structure of the bomb gave her the nickname "Puff".

A certain difficulty was that the thickness of each layer and their final number were also very important for a successful test. According to calculations, from 15% to 20% of the energy release during the explosion came from thermonuclear reactions, and another 75-80% from the fission of uranium-235, uranium-238 and plutonium-239 nuclei. It was also assumed that the yield of the charge will be from 200 to 400 kilotons, the practical result was at the upper limit of forecasts.

On X-day, August 12, 1953, the first Soviet hydrogen bomb was tested in action. The Semipalatinsk test site where the explosion occurred was located in the East Kazakhstan region. The RDS-6s test was preceded by an attempt in 1949 (then a ground explosion of a 22.4 kiloton bomb was carried out at the test site). Despite the isolated position of the test site, the population of the region experienced the beauty of nuclear testing first hand. People who lived relatively close to the test site for decades, until the closure of the test site in 1991, were exposed to radiation, and territories many kilometers from the test site were contaminated with nuclear decay products.

The first Soviet hydrogen bomb RDS-6s

Wikimedia Commons

A week before the RDS-6s test, according to eyewitnesses, the military gave money and food to the families of those living near the test site, but there was no evacuation and no information about upcoming events. The radioactive soil was removed from the test site itself, and the nearest structures and observation posts were restored. It was decided to detonate the hydrogen bomb on the surface of the earth, despite the fact that the configuration allowed it to be dropped from an aircraft.

Previous tests of atomic charges were strikingly different from what was recorded by nuclear scientists after testing the Sakharov puff. The energy yield of the bomb, which critics call not a thermonuclear bomb, but a thermonuclear-enhanced atomic bomb, turned out to be 20 times greater than that of previous charges. This was noticeable to the naked eye in sunglasses: only dust remained from the surviving and restored buildings after the test of the hydrogen bomb.