In the previous blogs we discussed in detail about what nuclear reactivity is and also covered the useful aspects of Nuclear reactions.
Now we are going ballistic
Nuclear reactions in common produce alot of energy.
Now, imagine packing it in a small packet and throwing it on the person who irritates you the most. Tada, An atomic bomb.
Step. 1
The Radioactive element - fuel
(Nope, your burning anger and annoyance towards that person isn't enough to fuel the reaction)
Uranium, the most commonly used radioactive fuel comes in two isotopes - 235 and 238.
Both are radioactive and will decay into other elements, given time, but only 235 can be forcibly split when neutrons are fired at it. But natural uranium overwhelmingly consists of the 238 isotope, which bounces back any neutrons striking it - useless then for a bomb. To make a bomb, natural uranium needs to be treated to concentrate the 235 isotope within it.
See, this is the major reason the entire world is not run over by nuclear weapons.
Because though the actual reaction is natural hence easy to intiate, the raw materials required is difficult to extract. For every 25,000 tonnes of uranium ore, only 50 tonnes of metal are produced. Less than 1% of that is uranium 235.
No standard extraction method will separate the two isotopes because they are chemically identical.
Instead, the uranium is reacted with fluorine, heated until it becomes a gas and then decanted through several thousand fine porous barriers. This partially separates the uranium into two types.
For bombs, the uranium has to be atleast enriched ( basically, concentrated with U- 235) to 80 -90 percent. (In contrast, nuclear reactors only need it to be enriched 20 percent)
Get around 50kg of this enriched uranium - the critical mass - and you have a bomb. Any less and the chain reaction would not cause an explosion.
Back Up Plan
So, Uraniums isn't that easy to get. Lets switch to our alternate fuel.
Plutonium , could also be used as a fuel. This is the preferred material because it makes much lighter weapons that can be mounted on to missiles.
Only around 10kg of Plutonium is needed for a bomb.
Yeah, ONLY 10 KG .
But the catch is ,an average power plant needs about a year to produce enough and expensive reprocessing facilities are required to extract the plutonium from the fuel.
Step 2
Structure
Once you get your fuel, tbh the rest of the process is pretty easy. If you are too much in a hurry , you could go ahead and throw the Uranium at the person right now.
The only purpose of this step is to make sure, the bomb doesn't blow up on your face before throwing it.
For the bomb to explode, it is essential for it to have the critical mass required.
A bomb structure uses this logic.
It needs to kept in sub-critical mass ( less than critical mass) seperately and then throwing the parts together is all that is needed. Of course 'throwing' isn't always practical ( and kinda indignified too ain't it, after all the trouble you are going through to extract the uranium, you might as well do the iconic moment in style)
The core of an implosion-type atomic bomb consists of a sphere or a series of concentric shells of fissionable material surrounded by a jacket of high explosives, which, being simultaneously detonated, implode the fissionable material under enormous pressures into a denser mass that immediately achieves criticality.
And unlike a nuclear reactor, which needs several safety parts to make sure the reactions doesn't go out of control, a bomb doesn't need them. It is meant to go out of control and wreck havoc.
Voila, Your own atomic bomb!
( Hopefully, the person learns not to mess with you again)
The Hiroshima - Nagasaki Incident
Jokes apart, It is very important to understand how powerful and dangerous a nuclear bomb can be ( and the reasons on why the world is a better place without it).
Most of us have read about the infamous World War 2 in history, and how it ended with Japan being blown to smithereens because of an American bomb.
The Americans , having made the first atomic bomb, released two atomic bombs 'little boy' (ironic isn't it?) and 'fat boy' over the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively.
By the end of 1945, the bombing had killed an estimated 140,000 people in Hiroshima, and a further 74,000 in Nagasaki. In the years that followed, many of the survivors would face leukemia, cancer, or other terrible side effects from the radiation.
Lakhs of people, common citizens, families and children who had no say or relation whatsover in the world war, whose only sin was to have been living in those cities, with a particular nationality - succumed to death.
If a nuclear weapon were to be detonated over a city today, first responders - hospitals, firemen, aid organisations - would simply be unable to help. This is what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In Hiroshima 90 per cent of physicians and nurses were killed or injured; 42 of 45 hospitals were rendered non-functional; and 70 per cent of victims had combined injuries including, in most cases, severe burns. Many suffered to death because no one could help.
The people with the knowledge or power to help died due to the impact, the people who tried entering from out , died from radiation.
(The Americans really presented a checkmate, didn't they)
It takes around 10 seconds for the fireball from a nuclear explosion to reach its maximum size, but the effects last for decades and span across generations.
And for all survivors, cancers related to radiation exposure still continue to increase throughout their lifespan, even to this day, seven decades later.
This is why Nuclear weapons should be banned and abolished in all countries. 10 seconds is the time it takes for a bomb to explode, killing lakhs of people ,destroying the lives of a million more.
If world governments don't understand the value of a human life and prioritise power and victory over it, I have no clue where this world is heading.
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