I put much thought into this throughout my senior year in high school in chemistry class. Now I know you all will downvote me because you think I'm crazy, but you could make a pretty cool bomb with water and an ordinary chunk of francium, a highly radioactive alkali metal.
Because the alkali metals react viciously with water, a huge explosion will result when the two substances are combined, especially with the heavier alkalis like cesium and francium. This is the explosion necessary for our francium Bomb.
Below is a schematic of the bomb:
_____________________________
| | \
| | _____________ \
|-------------| | | \
| | | | \
| => | Francium | |
| H20 | | | | <-- Nose
| | | | /
| | |_____________| /
| | /
|_____________|_______________/
When proximity to the ground is reached, the nose of the bomb triggers the reaction. H20 (water) is forced into the chamber holding the chunk of francium, creating a reaction, which in turn causes a grand explosion. This explosion is the result of the bomb, causing much destruction.
There are a few problems with this idea:
- First off, francium is highly rare. Finding enough to put into a bomb casing would not be very possible. At any given time, there is roughly 25-30 grams of naturally occurring francium in the Earth's crust.
- Second, francium is highly radioactive. In order to have enough to cause a nice explosion by the time it reaches the ground, you would have to have a huge amount to begin with, as the half-life reduces it to other elements and isotopes in no time at all, hence the natural rarity of the element.
- Note: Due to these first two problems, one could substitute cesium for francium, but would risk the loss of explosive power.
- Third, why mess with water-alkali reactions, when TNT and atomic weaponry do just fine.
- Lastly, why have bombs at all? Can't we just all get along?
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