atomic weapons

created by Lost^boy
(thing) by cardinal (3.5 y) (print)   ?   (I like it!) Sat Aug 04 2001 at 18:11:26
A term used to describe weapons which get their destructive energy from a sufficient quantity of radioactive material being forced into criticality by the use of explosives arrayed in an implosive configuration.

Most frequently, this term is used for weapons which release their energy through fission reactions and use Uranium as their radioactive material. Fusion weapons are sometimes refered to as nuclear weapons, and generally use Plutonium, and fusion weapons which rely on the injection of hydrogen isotopes, such as deuterium or tritium to provide additional neutrons to increase the force of the detonation are called hydrogen bombs.

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