-
Discovery of Uranium
In 1789, Martin Heinrich Klaproth, a German chemist discovered Uranium in the mineral pitchblend. Pitchblend is a mix of different uranium oxides. Eugène-Melchoir Péligot, a French chemist, isolated pure Uranium by extracting it with potassium and platinum. Later in 1896 Antoine Henri Becquerel, a French physicist, discovered Radioactivity in the Uranium element -
Nuclear Fusion
Scientist Hans Bethe proposes idea of nuclear fusion. Nuclear Fusion is the process by which two atomic nuclei come in close contact and fuse to form a new element. The change in mass of the nuclei results in a large discharge of energy. Fusion reactions are used to create enough energy to start a fission reaction in a thermonuclear weapon -
Discovery of Nuclear Fission
Scientist Otto Hahn discovered Nuclear Fission, which would revolutionize the atomic bomb and nuclear power. Fission is a process by which an atomic nuclei is split, discharging a large amount of energy. The large explosion in a thermonuclear weapon comes from the fission of plutonium or uranium -
First creation of Plutonium
Plutonium was first discovered at the Berkeley Radiation laboratory at the University of California. Plutonium was first made by using deuteron bombardment of Uranium. Plutonium was first discovered by Glenn T. Seaborg, Edwin McMillan, Joseph W. Kennedy, and Arthur Wahl. -
Teller-Ulam Configuration
The Teller-Ulam configuration was designed by Stanislaw Ulam and Edward Teller as an even more powerful version of the atomic bomb. The design used a imploding core to compress a lithium, deuterium or lithium deuteride gas core to create a fusion reaction. The fusion reaction that occurs releases a large amount of energy which sets off a fission chain reaction in the plutonium-239 or Uranium-238 core, releasing a huge amount of energy in the form of a nuclear blast. -
First Detonation of Thermonuclear weapon
The U.S dropped the first thermonuclear bomb on the atoll of Enewetak in the Pacific Ocean. The project was led by Edward Teller, an Hungarian-American nuclear physicist. It created a cloud 100 miles wide and 25 miles high, and killed all life of the atoll. The bomb completely vaporized the small Island of Elegelab and left a crater 600 ft wide and 164 feet deep where the island used to be. The following picture is the island before the bomb, Ivy Mike, was dropped. -
Aftermath of the bomb
After the first thermonuclear bomb was dropped, this is what the atoll looked like. The blast yielded 10.4 megatons of explosive energy. 700 times the amount at Hiroshima. -
Castle Bravo
Castle Bravo was the United States first detonation of a lithium-deuteride fueled thermonuclear weapon. Castle Bravo was detonated on the Bikini Atoll and had a yield of 15 Megatons. 2.5 times higher than predicted. The bomb uses a Teller-Ulam Configuration style, which uses fission of Uranium or Plutonium as it's main destructive force, rather than the fusion of deuterium or lithium, like a traditional Hydrogen bomb. -
The Tsar Bomba
The Russian Tsar Bomba is the most powerful thermonuclear weapon ever developed. Weighing 60, 000 pounds (30 tons), 26 feet long and 7 feet in diameter, the Tsar Bomba has a blast yield of 50 Megatons. Only one has ever been built and used in history because of how devastating even the testing of this weapon is. To say that this bomb is devastating is an understatement, the blast radius of total destruction was 22 miles and every building within 34 miles was leveled completely
