How does a hydrogen bomb work and what are the consequences of the explosion? How does a hydrogen bomb work?

Our article is devoted to the history of creation and general principles of synthesis of such a device, sometimes called hydrogen. Instead of releasing explosive energy by splitting the nuclei of heavy elements like uranium, it generates even more energy by fusing the nuclei of light elements (such as isotopes of hydrogen) into one heavy one (such as helium).

Why is nuclear fusion preferable?

In a thermonuclear reaction, which consists of the fusion of nuclei participating in it chemical elements, significantly more energy is generated per unit mass of a physical device than in a pure atomic bomb implementing a nuclear fission reaction.

In an atomic bomb, fissile nuclear fuel quickly, under the influence of the energy of detonation of conventional explosives, combines in a small spherical volume, where its so-called critical mass is created, and the fission reaction begins. In this case, many neutrons released from fissile nuclei will cause the fission of other nuclei in the fuel mass, which also release additional neutrons, leading to a chain reaction. It covers no more than 20% of the fuel before the bomb explodes, or perhaps much less if conditions are not ideal: as in the atomic bombs Little Kid dropped on Hiroshima and Fat Man that hit Nagasaki, efficiency (if such a term can be applied to them) apply) were only 1.38% and 13%, respectively.

The fusion (or fusion) of nuclei covers the entire mass of the bomb charge and lasts as long as neutrons can find thermonuclear fuel that has not yet reacted. Therefore, the mass and explosive power of such a bomb are theoretically unlimited. Such a merger can theoretically continue indefinitely. Indeed, the thermonuclear bomb is one of the potential doomsday devices that could destroy all human life.

What is a nuclear fusion reaction?

The fuel for the thermonuclear fusion reaction is hydrogen isotopes deuterium or tritium. The first differs from ordinary hydrogen in that its nucleus, in addition to one proton, also contains a neutron, and the tritium nucleus already has two neutrons. In natural water, there is one deuterium atom for every 7,000 hydrogen atoms, but from its quantity. contained in a glass of water, as a result of a thermonuclear reaction, the same amount of heat can be obtained as from the combustion of 200 liters of gasoline. At a 1946 meeting with politicians, the father of the American hydrogen bomb, Edward Teller, emphasized that deuterium provides more energy per gram of weight than uranium or plutonium, but costs twenty cents per gram compared with several hundred dollars per gram of fission fuel. Tritium does not occur in nature in a free state at all, so it is much more expensive than deuterium, with a market price of tens of thousands of dollars per gram, however greatest number energy is released precisely in the reaction of fusion of deuterium and tritium nuclei, in which the nucleus of a helium atom is formed and a neutron is released, carrying away excess energy of 17.59 MeV

D + T → 4 He + n + 17.59 MeV.

This reaction is shown schematically in the figure below.

Is it a lot or a little? As you know, everything is learned by comparison. So, the energy of 1 MeV is approximately 2.3 million times more than that released during the combustion of 1 kg of oil. Consequently, the fusion of only two nuclei of deuterium and tritium releases as much energy as is released during the combustion of 2.3∙10 6 ∙17.59 = 40.5∙10 6 kg of oil. But we are talking about only two atoms. You can imagine how high the stakes were in the second half of the 40s of the last century, when work began in the USA and the USSR, which resulted in a thermonuclear bomb.

How it all began

As early as the summer of 1942, at the beginning of the atomic bomb project in the United States (the Manhattan Project) and later in a similar Soviet program, long before a bomb based on the fission of uranium nuclei was built, the attention of some participants in these programs was drawn to the device, which can use a much more powerful nuclear fusion reaction. In the USA, a supporter of this approach, and even, one might say, its apologist, was the above-mentioned Edward Teller. In the USSR, this direction was developed by Andrei Sakharov, a future academician and dissident.

For Teller, his fascination with thermonuclear fusion during the years of creating the atomic bomb was rather a disservice. As a participant in the Manhattan Project, he persistently called for the redirection of funds to implement his own ideas, the goal of which was a hydrogen and thermonuclear bomb, which did not please the leadership and caused tension in relations. Since at that time the thermonuclear direction of research was not supported, after the creation of the atomic bomb Teller left the project and began teaching, as well as researching elementary particles.

However, the outbreak of the Cold War, and most of all the creation and successful testing of the Soviet atomic bomb in 1949, became a new chance for the ardent anti-communist Teller to realize his scientific ideas. He returns to the Los Alamos laboratory, where the atomic bomb was created, and, together with Stanislav Ulam and Cornelius Everett, begins calculations.

The principle of a thermonuclear bomb

In order for the nuclear fusion reaction to begin, the bomb charge must be instantly heated to a temperature of 50 million degrees. The thermonuclear bomb scheme proposed by Teller uses for this purpose the explosion of a small atomic bomb, which is located inside the hydrogen casing. It can be argued that there were three generations in the development of her project in the 40s of the last century:

• Teller's variation, known as the "classic super";
• more complex, but also more realistic designs of several concentric spheres;
• the final version of the Teller-Ulam design, which is the basis of all thermonuclear weapon systems operating today.

The thermonuclear bombs of the USSR, whose creation was pioneered by Andrei Sakharov, went through similar design stages. He, apparently, completely independently and independently of the Americans (which cannot be said about the Soviet atomic bomb, created by the joint efforts of scientists and intelligence officers working in the USA) went through all of the above design stages.

The first two generations had the property that they had a succession of interlocking "layers", each of which reinforced some aspect of the previous one, and in some cases feedback was established. There was no clear division between the primary atomic bomb and the secondary thermonuclear one. In contrast, the Teller-Ulam thermonuclear bomb diagram sharply distinguishes between a primary explosion, a secondary explosion, and, if necessary, an additional one.

The device of a thermonuclear bomb according to the Teller-Ulam principle

Many of its details still remain classified, but it is reasonably certain that all thermonuclear weapons currently available are based on the device created by Edward Telleros and Stanislaw Ulam, in which an atomic bomb (i.e. the primary charge) is used to generate radiation, compresses and heats fusion fuel. Andrei Sakharov in the Soviet Union apparently independently came up with a similar concept, which he called the "third idea."

The design of a thermonuclear bomb in this version is shown schematically in the figure below.

It was cylindrical in shape, with a roughly spherical primary atomic bomb at one end. The secondary thermonuclear charge in the first, not yet industrial samples, was made of liquid deuterium; somewhat later it became solid from a chemical compound called lithium deuteride.

The fact is that industry has long used lithium hydride LiH for balloon-free hydrogen transportation. The developers of the bomb (this idea was first used in the USSR) simply proposed taking its isotope deuterium instead of ordinary hydrogen and combining it with lithium, since it is much easier to make a bomb with a solid thermonuclear charge.

The shape of the secondary charge was a cylinder placed in a container with a lead (or uranium) shell. Between the charges there is a neutron protection shield. The space between the walls of the container with thermonuclear fuel and the bomb body is filled with special plastic, usually polystyrene foam. The bomb body itself is made of steel or aluminum.

These shapes have changed in recent designs such as the one shown below.

In it, the primary charge is flattened, like a watermelon or an American football ball, and the secondary charge is spherical. Such shapes fit much more efficiently into the internal volume of conical missile warheads.

Thermonuclear explosion sequence

When a primary atomic bomb detonates, in the first moments of this process a powerful X-ray radiation (neutron flux) is generated, which is partially blocked by the neutron shield, and is reflected from the inner lining of the housing surrounding the secondary charge, so that X-rays fall symmetrically on it along its entire length.

On initial stages In a thermonuclear reaction, neutrons from an atomic explosion are absorbed by a plastic filler to prevent the fuel from heating up too quickly.

X-rays initially cause the appearance of a dense plastic foam that fills the space between the housing and the secondary charge, which quickly turns into a plasma state that heats and compresses the secondary charge.

In addition, the X-rays evaporate the surface of the container surrounding the secondary charge. The substance of the container, evaporating symmetrically relative to this charge, acquires a certain impulse directed from its axis, and the layers of the secondary charge, according to the law of conservation of momentum, receive an impulse directed towards the axis of the device. The principle here is the same as in a rocket, only if you imagine that the rocket fuel scatters symmetrically from its axis, and the body is compressed inward.

As a result of such compression of thermonuclear fuel, its volume decreases thousands of times, and the temperature reaches the level at which the nuclear fusion reaction begins. A thermonuclear bomb explodes. The reaction is accompanied by the formation of tritium nuclei, which merge with deuterium nuclei initially present in the secondary charge.

The first secondary charges were built around a rod core of plutonium, informally called a "candle", which entered into a nuclear fission reaction, i.e., another, additional atomic explosion was carried out in order to further raise the temperature to ensure the start of the nuclear fusion reaction. It is currently believed that more efficient systems compression eliminated the "candle", allowing further miniaturization of the bomb design.

Operation Ivy

This was the name given to the tests of American thermonuclear weapons in the Marshall Islands in 1952, during which the first thermonuclear bomb was detonated. It was called Ivy Mike and was built according to the Teller-Ulam standard design. Its secondary thermonuclear charge was placed in a cylindrical container, which was a thermally insulated Dewar flask with thermonuclear fuel in the form of liquid deuterium, along the axis of which a “candle” of 239-plutonium ran. The dewar, in turn, was covered with a layer of 238-uranium weighing more than 5 metric tons, which evaporated during the explosion, providing symmetrical compression of the thermonuclear fuel. The container with the primary and secondary charges was placed in a steel case 80 inches wide and 244 inches long with walls 10-12 inches thick, which was biggest example forged products before that time. Inner surface The housing was lined with sheets of lead and polyethylene to reflect radiation after the explosion of the primary charge and create plasma that heats the secondary charge. The entire device weighed 82 tons. A view of the device shortly before the explosion is shown in the photo below.

The first test of a thermonuclear bomb took place on October 31, 1952. The power of the explosion was 10.4 megatons. Attol Eniwetok, where it was produced, was completely destroyed. The moment of the explosion is shown in the photo below.

The USSR gives a symmetrical answer

The US thermonuclear championship did not last long. On August 12, 1953, the first Soviet thermonuclear bomb RDS-6, developed under the leadership of Andrei Sakharov and Yuli Khariton, was tested at the Semipalatinsk test site. From the description above, it becomes clear that the Americans at Enewetok did not explode the bomb itself, as a type of ready-to-use ammunition, but rather a laboratory device, cumbersome and very imperfect. Soviet scientists, despite the small power of only 400 kg, tested a completely finished ammunition with thermonuclear fuel in the form of solid lithium deuteride, and not liquid deuterium, like the Americans. By the way, it should be noted that only the 6 Li isotope is used in lithium deuteride (this is due to the peculiarities of thermonuclear reactions), and in nature it is mixed with the 7 Li isotope. Therefore, special production facilities were built to separate lithium isotopes and select only 6 Li.

Reaching Power Limit

What followed was a decade of continuous arms race, during which the power of thermonuclear munitions continually increased. Finally, on October 30, 1961 in the USSR over the training ground New Earth The most powerful thermonuclear bomb ever built and tested, known in the West as the Tsar Bomba, was detonated in the air at an altitude of about 4 km.

This three-stage munition was actually developed as a 101.5-megaton bomb, but the desire to reduce radioactive contamination of the area forced the developers to abandon the third stage with a yield of 50 megatons and reduce the design yield of the device to 51.5 megatons. At the same time, the power of the explosion of the primary atomic charge was 1.5 megatons, and the second thermonuclear stage was supposed to give another 50. The actual power of the explosion was up to 58 megatons. The appearance of the bomb is shown in the photo below.

Its consequences were impressive. Despite the very significant height of the explosion of 4000 m, the incredibly bright fireball with its lower edge almost reached the Earth, and with its upper edge it rose to a height of more than 4.5 km. The pressure below the burst point was six times higher than the peak pressure of the Hiroshima explosion. The flash of light was so bright that it was visible at a distance of 1000 kilometers, despite the cloudy weather. One of the test participants saw a bright flash through dark glasses and felt the effects of the thermal pulse even at a distance of 270 km. A photo of the moment of the explosion is shown below.

It was shown that the power of a thermonuclear charge really has no limitations. After all, it was enough to complete the third stage, and the calculated power would be achieved. But it is possible to increase the number of stages further, since the weight of the Tsar Bomba was no more than 27 tons. The appearance of this device is shown in the photo below.

After these tests, it became clear to many politicians and military men in both the USSR and the USA that the limit of the nuclear arms race had reached and it needed to be stopped.

Modern Russia inherited the nuclear arsenal of the USSR. Today, Russia's thermonuclear bombs continue to serve as a deterrent to those seeking global hegemony. Let's hope they only play their role as a deterrent and never get blown up.

The sun as a fusion reactor

It is well known that the temperature of the Sun, or more precisely its core, reaching 15,000,000 °K, is maintained due to the continuous occurrence of thermonuclear reactions. However, everything that we could glean from the previous text speaks of the explosive nature of such processes. Then why doesn't the Sun explode like a thermonuclear bomb?

The fact is that with a huge share of hydrogen in the solar mass, which reaches 71%, the share of its isotope deuterium, the nuclei of which can only participate in the thermonuclear fusion reaction, is negligible. The fact is that deuterium nuclei themselves are formed as a result of the merger of two hydrogen nuclei, and not just a merger, but with the decay of one of the protons into a neutron, positron and neutrino (so-called beta decay), which is a rare event. In this case, the resulting deuterium nuclei are distributed fairly evenly throughout the volume of the solar core. Therefore, with its enormous size and mass, individual and rare centers of thermonuclear reactions of relatively low power are, as it were, smeared throughout its entire core of the Sun. The heat released during these reactions is clearly not enough to instantly burn out all the deuterium in the Sun, but it is enough to heat it to a temperature that ensures life on Earth.

Many of our readers H-bomb associated with nuclear power, only much more powerful. In fact, this is a fundamentally new weapon, which required disproportionately large intellectual efforts for its creation and works on fundamentally different physical principles.

"Puff"

Modern bomb

The only thing that the atomic and hydrogen bombs have in common is that both release colossal energy hidden in the atomic nucleus. This can be done in two ways: to divide heavy nuclei, for example, uranium or plutonium, into lighter ones (fission reaction) or to force the lightest isotopes of hydrogen to merge (fusion reaction). As a result of both reactions, the mass of the resulting material is always less than the mass of the original atoms. But mass cannot disappear without a trace - it turns into energy according to Einstein’s famous formula E=mc2.

A-bomb

To create an atomic bomb, a necessary and sufficient condition is to obtain fissile material in sufficient quantities. The work is quite labor-intensive, but low-intellectual, lying closer to the mining industry than to high science. The main resources for the creation of such weapons are spent on the construction of giant uranium mines and enrichment plants. Evidence of the simplicity of the device is the fact that less than a month passed between the production of the plutonium needed for the first bomb and the first Soviet nuclear explosion.

Let us briefly recall the operating principle of such a bomb, known from school physics courses. It is based on the property of uranium and some transuranium elements, for example, plutonium, to release more than one neutron during decay. These elements can decay either spontaneously or under the influence of other neutrons.

The released neutron can leave the radioactive material, or it can collide with another atom, causing another fission reaction. When a certain concentration of a substance (critical mass) is exceeded, the number of newborn neutrons, causing further fission of the atomic nucleus, begins to exceed the number of decaying nuclei. The number of decaying atoms begins to grow like an avalanche, giving birth to new neutrons, that is, a chain reaction occurs. For uranium-235, the critical mass is about 50 kg, for plutonium-239 - 5.6 kg. That is, a ball of plutonium weighing slightly less than 5.6 kg is just a warm piece of metal, and a mass of slightly more lasts only a few nanoseconds.

The actual operation of the bomb is simple: we take two hemispheres of uranium or plutonium, each slightly less than the critical mass, place them at a distance of 45 cm, cover them with explosives and detonate. The uranium or plutonium is sintered into a piece of supercritical mass, and a nuclear reaction begins. All. There is another way to start a nuclear reaction - to compress a piece of plutonium with a powerful explosion: the distance between the atoms will decrease, and the reaction will begin at a lower critical mass. All modern atomic detonators operate on this principle.

The problems of the atomic bomb begin from the moment we want to increase the power of the explosion. Simply increasing the fissile material is not enough - as soon as its mass reaches a critical mass, it detonates. Various ingenious schemes were invented, for example, to make a bomb not from two parts, but from many, which made the bomb begin to resemble a gutted orange, and then assemble it into one piece with one explosion, but still, with a power of over 100 kilotons, the problems became insurmountable.

H-bomb

But fuel for thermonuclear fusion does not have a critical mass. Here the Sun, filled with thermonuclear fuel, hangs overhead, a thermonuclear reaction has been going on inside it for billions of years, and nothing explodes. In addition, during the synthesis reaction of, for example, deuterium and tritium (heavy and superheavy isotope of hydrogen), energy is released 4.2 times more than during the combustion of the same mass of uranium-235.

Making the atomic bomb was an experimental rather than a theoretical process. The creation of a hydrogen bomb required the emergence of completely new physical disciplines: the physics of high-temperature plasma and ultra-high pressures. Before starting to construct a bomb, it was necessary to thoroughly understand the nature of the phenomena that occur only in the core of stars. No experiments could help here - the researchers’ tools were only theoretical physics and higher mathematics. It is no coincidence that a gigantic role in the development of thermonuclear weapons belongs to mathematicians: Ulam, Tikhonov, Samarsky, etc.

Classic super

Towards the end of 1945, Edward Teller proposed the first hydrogen bomb design, called the "classic super". To create the monstrous pressure and temperature necessary to start the fusion reaction, it was supposed to use a conventional atomic bomb. The “classic super” itself was a long cylinder filled with deuterium. An intermediate “ignition” chamber with a deuterium-tritium mixture was also provided - the synthesis reaction of deuterium and tritium begins at a lower pressure. By analogy with a fire, deuterium was supposed to play the role of firewood, a mixture of deuterium and tritium - a glass of gasoline, and an atomic bomb - a match. This scheme was called a “pipe” - a kind of cigar with an atomic lighter at one end. Soviet physicists began to develop the hydrogen bomb using the same scheme.

However, mathematician Stanislav Ulam, using an ordinary slide rule, proved to Teller that the occurrence of a fusion reaction of pure deuterium in a “super” is hardly possible, and the mixture would require such an amount of tritium that to produce it it would be necessary to practically freeze the production of weapons-grade plutonium in the United States.

Puff with sugar

In mid-1946, Teller proposed another hydrogen bomb design - the “alarm clock”. It consisted of alternating spherical layers of uranium, deuterium and tritium. During the nuclear explosion of the central charge of plutonium, the necessary pressure and temperature were created for the start of a thermonuclear reaction in other layers of the bomb. However, the “alarm clock” required a high-power atomic initiator, and the United States (as well as the USSR) had problems producing weapons-grade uranium and plutonium.

In the fall of 1948, Andrei Sakharov came to a similar scheme. In the Soviet Union, the design was called “sloyka”. For the USSR, which did not have time to produce weapons-grade uranium-235 and plutonium-239 in sufficient quantities, Sakharov’s puff paste was a panacea. And that's why.

In a conventional atomic bomb, natural uranium-238 is not only useless (the neutron energy during decay is not enough to initiate fission), but also harmful because it eagerly absorbs secondary neutrons, slowing down the chain reaction. Therefore, 90% of weapons-grade uranium consists of the isotope uranium-235. However, neutrons resulting from thermonuclear fusion are 10 times more energetic than fission neutrons, and natural uranium-238 irradiated with such neutrons begins to fission excellently. The new bomb made it possible to use uranium-238, which had previously been considered a waste product, as an explosive.

The highlight of Sakharov’s “puff pastry” was also the use of white lung instead of acutely scarce tritium crystalline substance— lithium deuteride 6LiD.

As mentioned above, a mixture of deuterium and tritium ignites much more easily than pure deuterium. However, this is where the advantages of tritium end, and only disadvantages remain: in its normal state, tritium is a gas, which causes difficulties with storage; tritium is radioactive and decays into stable helium-3, which actively consumes much-needed fast neutrons, limiting the bomb's shelf life to a few months.

Non-radioactive lithium deutride, when irradiated with slow fission neutrons - the consequences of an atomic fuse explosion - turns into tritium. Thus, the radiation from the primary atomic explosion instantly produces a sufficient amount of tritium for a further thermonuclear reaction, and deuterium is initially present in lithium deuteride.

It was just such a bomb, RDS-6s, that was successfully tested on August 12, 1953 at the tower of the Semipalatinsk test site. The power of the explosion was 400 kilotons, and there is still debate over whether it was a real thermonuclear explosion or a super-powerful atomic one. After all, the thermonuclear fusion reaction in Sakharov’s puff paste accounted for no more than 20% of the total charge power. The main contribution to the explosion was made by the decay reaction of uranium-238 irradiated with fast neutrons, thanks to which the RDS-6s ushered in the era of the so-called “dirty” bombs.

The fact is that the main radioactive contamination comes from decay products (in particular, strontium-90 and cesium-137). Essentially, Sakharov’s “puff pastry” was a giant atomic bomb, only slightly enhanced by a thermonuclear reaction. It is no coincidence that just one “puff pastry” explosion produced 82% of strontium-90 and 75% of cesium-137, which entered the atmosphere over the entire history of the Semipalatinsk test site.

American bombs

However, it was the Americans who were the first to detonate the hydrogen bomb. On November 1, 1952, the Mike thermonuclear device, with a yield of 10 megatons, was successfully tested at Elugelab Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. It would be hard to call a 74-ton American device a bomb. "Mike" was a bulky device the size of two-storey house, filled with liquid deuterium at a temperature close to absolute zero(Sakharov’s “puff pastry” was a completely transportable product). However, the highlight of “Mike” was not its size, but the ingenious principle of compressing thermonuclear explosives.

Let us recall that the main idea of ​​a hydrogen bomb is to create conditions for fusion (ultra-high pressure and temperature) through a nuclear explosion. In the “puff” scheme, the nuclear charge is located in the center, and therefore it does not so much compress the deuterium as scatter it outwards - increasing the amount of thermonuclear explosive does not lead to an increase in power - it simply does not have time to detonate. This is precisely what limits the maximum power of this scheme - the most powerful “puff” in the world, the Orange Herald, blown up by the British on May 31, 1957, yielded only 720 kilotons.

It would be ideal if we could make the atomic fuse explode inside, compressing the thermonuclear explosive. But how to do that? Edward Teller put forward a brilliant idea: to compress thermonuclear fuel not with mechanical energy and neutron flux, but with the radiation of the primary atomic fuse.

In Teller's new design, the initiating atomic unit was separated from the thermonuclear unit. When the atomic charge was triggered, X-ray radiation preceded the shock wave and spread along the walls of the cylindrical body, evaporating and turning the polyethylene inner lining of the bomb body into plasma. The plasma, in turn, re-emited softer X-rays, which were absorbed by the outer layers of the inner cylinder of uranium-238 - the “pusher”. The layers began to evaporate explosively (this phenomenon is called ablation). Hot uranium plasma can be compared to the jets of a super-powerful rocket engine, the thrust of which is directed into the cylinder with deuterium. The uranium cylinder collapsed, the pressure and temperature of the deuterium reached a critical level. The same pressure compressed the central plutonium tube to a critical mass, and it detonated. The explosion of the plutonium fuse pressed on the deuterium from the inside, further compressing and heating the thermonuclear explosive, which detonated. An intense stream of neutrons splits the uranium-238 nuclei in the “pusher”, causing a secondary decay reaction. All this managed to happen before the moment when the blast wave from the primary nuclear explosion reached the thermonuclear unit. The calculation of all these events, occurring in billionths of a second, required the brainpower of the strongest mathematicians on the planet. The creators of “Mike” experienced not horror from the 10-megaton explosion, but indescribable delight - they managed not only to understand the processes that real world go only to the cores of stars, but also test their theories experimentally by setting up their own small star on Earth.

Bravo

Having surpassed the Russians in the beauty of the design, the Americans were unable to make their device compact: they used liquid supercooled deuterium instead of Sakharov’s powdered lithium deuteride. In Los Alamos they reacted to Sakharov’s “puff pastry” with a degree of envy: “instead of a huge cow with a bucket raw milk Russians use a packet of powdered milk.” However, both sides failed to hide secrets from each other. On March 1, 1954, near the Bikini Atoll, the Americans tested a 15-megaton “Bravo” bomb using lithium deutride, and on November 22, 1955, the first Soviet two-stage thermonuclear bomb RDS-37 with a power of 1.7 megatons exploded over the Semipalatinsk test site, demolishing almost half of the test site. Since then, the design of the thermonuclear bomb has undergone minor changes (for example, a uranium shield appeared between the initiating bomb and the main charge) and has become canonical. And there are no more large-scale mysteries of nature left in the world that could be solved with such a spectacular experiment. Perhaps the birth of a supernova.

Thermonuclear weapons (H-bomb)- a type of nuclear weapon, the destructive power of which is based on the use of the energy of the reaction of nuclear fusion of light elements into heavier ones (for example, the synthesis of one nucleus of a helium atom from two nuclei of deuterium atoms), which releases energy.

general description [ | ]

A thermonuclear explosive device can be built using either liquid deuterium or compressed gaseous deuterium. But the emergence of thermonuclear weapons became possible only thanks to a type of lithium hydride - lithium-6 deuteride. This is a combination of a heavy isotope of hydrogen - deuterium and an isotope of lithium with a mass number of 6.

Lithium-6 deuteride - solid, which allows you to store deuterium (the usual state of which under normal conditions is gas) under normal conditions, and, in addition, its second component - lithium-6 - is the raw material for producing the most scarce isotope of hydrogen - tritium. Actually, 6 Li is the only industrial source of tritium:

The same reaction occurs in lithium-6 deuteride in a thermonuclear device when irradiated with fast neutrons; released energy E 1 = 4.784 MeV. The resulting tritium (3H) then reacts with deuterium, releasing energy E 2 = 17.59 MeV:

Moreover, a neutron is produced with a kinetic energy of at least 14.1 MeV, which can again initiate the first reaction on another lithium-6 nucleus, or cause the fission of heavy uranium or plutonium nuclei in a shell or trigger with the emission of several more fast neutrons.

Early US thermonuclear munitions also used natural lithium deuteride, which contains mainly the lithium isotope with mass number 7. It also serves as a source of tritium, but for this the neutrons participating in the reaction must have an energy of 10 MeV or higher: reaction n+ 7 Li → 3 H + 4 He + n− 2.467 MeV is endothermic, absorbing energy.

A thermonuclear bomb operating on the Teller-Ulam principle consists of two stages: a trigger and a container with thermonuclear fuel.

The device tested by the United States in 1952 was not actually a bomb, but a laboratory prototype, a “3-story house filled with liquid deuterium,” made in the form of a special design. Soviet scientists developed precisely the bomb - a complete device suitable for practical military use.

The largest hydrogen bomb ever detonated is the Soviet 58-megaton Tsar Bomba, detonated on October 30, 1961 at the Novaya Zemlya archipelago test site. Nikita Khrushchev later publicly joked that the original plan was to detonate a 100-megaton bomb, but the charge was reduced “so as not to break all the glass in Moscow.” Structurally, the bomb was indeed designed for 100 megatons, and this power could be achieved by replacing lead with uranium. The bomb was detonated at an altitude of 4000 meters above the Novaya Zemlya training ground. The shock wave after the explosion circled the globe three times. Despite the successful test, the bomb did not enter service; However, the creation and testing of the superbomb was of great political significance, demonstrating that the USSR had solved the problem of achieving virtually any level of megatonnage in its nuclear arsenal.

USA [ | ]

The idea of ​​a fusion bomb initiated by an atomic charge was proposed by Enrico Fermi to his colleague Edward Teller in the fall of 1941, at the very beginning of the Manhattan Project. Teller devoted much of his work during the Manhattan Project to working on the fusion bomb project, to some extent neglecting the atomic bomb itself. His focus on difficulties and the position of "devil's advocate" in discussions of problems forced Oppenheimer to lead Teller and other "problematic" physicists to the siding.

The first important and conceptual steps towards the implementation of the synthesis project were taken by Teller's collaborator Stanislav Ulam. To initiate thermonuclear fusion, Ulam proposed compressing the thermonuclear fuel before heating it, using factors from the primary fission reaction, and also placing the thermonuclear charge separately from the primary nuclear component of the bomb. These proposals made it possible to transfer the development of thermonuclear weapons to a practical level. Based on this, Teller proposed that the x-rays and gamma rays generated by the primary explosion could transfer enough energy to the secondary component, located in a common shell with the primary, to carry out sufficient implosion (compression) to initiate a thermonuclear reaction. Teller and his supporters and opponents later discussed Ulam's contribution to the theory underlying this mechanism.

Explosion "George"

In 1951, a series of tests was carried out under the general name Operation Greenhouse, during which issues of miniaturization of nuclear charges were worked out while increasing their power. One of the tests in this series was an explosion codenamed "George", in which an experimental device was detonated, which was a nuclear charge in the form of a torus with a small amount of liquid hydrogen placed in the center. The main part of the explosion power was obtained precisely due to hydrogen fusion, which confirmed in practice the general concept of two-stage devices.

"Evie Mike"

Soon, the development of thermonuclear weapons in the United States was directed towards the miniaturization of the Teller-Ulam design, which could be equipped with intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs). By 1960, the megaton-class W47 warheads were adopted, deployed on submarines, equipped with Polaris ballistic missiles. The warheads had a mass of 320 kg and a diameter of 50 cm. Later tests showed the low reliability of the warheads installed on Polaris missiles and the need for their modifications. By the mid-1970s, the miniaturization of new versions of warheads according to the Teller-Ulam design made it possible to place 10 or more warheads in the dimensions of the warhead of multiple warheads (MIRV).

USSR [ | ]

North Korea [ | ]

In December of this year, KCNA distributed a statement by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, in which he reported that Pyongyang had its own hydrogen bomb.

H-BOMB
a weapon of great destructive power (on the order of megatons in TNT equivalent), the operating principle of which is based on the reaction of thermonuclear fusion of light nuclei. The source of explosion energy is processes similar to those occurring on the Sun and other stars.
Thermonuclear reactions. The interior of the Sun contains a gigantic amount of hydrogen, which is in a state of ultra-high compression at a temperature of approx. 15,000,000 K. At such high temperatures and plasma densities, hydrogen nuclei experience constant collisions with each other, some of which end in their fusion and ultimately the formation of heavier helium nuclei. Such reactions, called thermonuclear fusion, are accompanied by the release of enormous amounts of energy. According to the laws of physics, the energy release during thermonuclear fusion is due to the fact that during the formation of a heavier nucleus, part of the mass of the light nuclei included in its composition is converted into a colossal amount of energy. That is why the Sun, having a gigantic mass, loses approx. every day in the process of thermonuclear fusion. 100 billion tons of matter and releases energy, thanks to which life on Earth became possible.
Isotopes of hydrogen. The hydrogen atom is the simplest of all existing atoms. It consists of one proton, which is its nucleus, around which a single electron rotates. Careful studies of water (H2O) have shown that it contains negligible amounts of “heavy” water containing the “heavy isotope” of hydrogen - deuterium (2H). The deuterium nucleus consists of a proton and a neutron - a neutral particle with a mass close to a proton. There is a third isotope of hydrogen - tritium, whose nucleus contains one proton and two neutrons. Tritium is unstable and undergoes spontaneous radioactive decay, turning into an isotope of helium. Traces of tritium have been found in the Earth's atmosphere, where it is formed as a result of the interaction of cosmic rays with gas molecules that make up the air. Tritium is produced artificially in a nuclear reactor by irradiating the lithium-6 isotope with a stream of neutrons.
Development of the hydrogen bomb. Preliminary theoretical analysis has shown that thermonuclear fusion is most easily accomplished in a mixture of deuterium and tritium. Taking this as a basis, US scientists at the beginning of 1950 began implementing a project to create a hydrogen bomb (HB). The first tests of a model nuclear device were carried out at the Enewetak test site in the spring of 1951; thermonuclear fusion was only partial. Significant success was achieved on November 1, 1951 during the testing of a massive nuclear device, the explosion power of which was 4e8 Mt in TNT equivalent. The first hydrogen aerial bomb was detonated in the USSR on August 12, 1953, and on March 1, 1954, the Americans detonated a more powerful (approximately 15 Mt) aerial bomb on Bikini Atoll. Since then, both powers have carried out explosions of advanced megaton weapons. The explosion at Bikini Atoll was accompanied by the release of large quantity radioactive substances. Some of them fell hundreds of kilometers from the explosion site on the Japanese fishing vessel Lucky Dragon, while others covered the island of Rongelap. Since thermonuclear fusion produces stable helium, the radioactivity from the explosion of a pure hydrogen bomb should be no more than that of an atomic detonator of a thermonuclear reaction. However, in the case under consideration, the predicted and actual radioactive fallout differed significantly in quantity and composition.
The mechanism of action of a hydrogen bomb. The sequence of processes occurring during the explosion of a hydrogen bomb can be represented as follows. First, the thermonuclear reaction initiator charge (a small atomic bomb) located inside the NB shell explodes, resulting in a neutron flash and creating the high temperature necessary to initiate thermonuclear fusion. Neutrons bombard an insert made of lithium deuteride - a compound of deuterium with lithium (a lithium isotope with mass number 6 is used). Lithium-6 is split into helium and tritium under the influence of neutrons. Thus, the atomic fuse creates the materials necessary for synthesis directly in the actual bomb itself. Then a thermonuclear reaction begins in a mixture of deuterium and tritium, the temperature inside the bomb rapidly increases, involving more and more hydrogen in the synthesis. With a further increase in temperature, a reaction between deuterium nuclei, characteristic of a pure hydrogen bomb, could begin. All reactions, of course, occur so quickly that they are perceived as instantaneous.
Fission, fusion, fission (superbomb). In fact, in a bomb, the sequence of processes described above ends at the stage of the reaction of deuterium with tritium. Further, the bomb designers chose not to use nuclear fusion, but nuclear fission. The fusion of deuterium and tritium nuclei produces helium and fast neutrons, the energy of which is high enough to cause nuclear fission of uranium-238 (the main isotope of uranium, much cheaper than the uranium-235 used in conventional atomic bombs). Fast neutrons split the atoms of the uranium shell of the superbomb. The fission of one ton of uranium creates energy equivalent to 18 Mt. Energy goes not only to explosion and heat generation. Each uranium nucleus splits into two highly radioactive "fragments". Fission products include 36 different chemical elements and nearly 200 radioactive isotopes. All this constitutes the radioactive fallout that accompanies superbomb explosions. Thanks to the unique design and the described mechanism of action, weapons of this type can be made as powerful as desired. It is much cheaper than atomic bombs of the same power.
Consequences of the explosion. Shock wave and thermal effect. The direct (primary) impact of a superbomb explosion is threefold. The most obvious direct impact is a shock wave of enormous intensity. The strength of its impact, depending on the power of the bomb, the height of the explosion above the surface of the earth and the nature of the terrain, decreases with distance from the epicenter of the explosion. The thermal impact of an explosion is determined by the same factors, but also depends on the transparency of the air - fog sharply reduces the distance at which a thermal flash can cause serious burns. According to calculations, during an explosion in the atmosphere of a 20-megaton bomb, people will remain alive in 50% of cases if they 1) take refuge in an underground reinforced concrete shelter at a distance of approximately 8 km from the epicenter of the explosion (E), 2) are in ordinary urban buildings at a distance of approx. . 15 km from EV, 3) found themselves in an open place at a distance of approx. 20 km from EV. In conditions of poor visibility and at a distance of at least 25 km, if the atmosphere is clear, for people in open areas, the likelihood of survival increases rapidly with distance from the epicenter; at a distance of 32 km its calculated value is more than 90%. The area over which the penetrating radiation generated during an explosion causes death is relatively small, even in the case of a high-power superbomb.
Fire ball. Depending on the composition and mass of combustible material involved in the fireball, gigantic self-sustaining firestorms can form and rage for many hours. However, the most dangerous (albeit secondary) consequence of the explosion is radioactive contamination of the environment.
Fallout. How they are formed.
When a bomb explodes, the resulting fireball fills a huge amount radioactive particles. Typically these particles are so small that once they reach the upper atmosphere, they can remain there for a long time. But if a fireball comes into contact with the surface of the Earth, it turns everything on it into hot dust and ash and draws them into a fiery tornado. In a whirlwind of flame, they mix and bind with radioactive particles. Radioactive dust, except the largest, does not settle immediately. Finer dust is carried away by the resulting cloud and gradually falls out as it moves with the wind. Directly at the site of the explosion, radioactive fallout can be extremely intense - mainly large dust settling on the ground. Hundreds of kilometers from the explosion site and at greater distances, small but still visible to the eye ash particles. They often form a cover similar to fallen snow, deadly to anyone who happens to be nearby. Even smaller and invisible particles, before they settle on the ground, can wander in the atmosphere for months and even years, circling the globe many times. By the time they fall out, their radioactivity is significantly weakened. The most dangerous radiation remains strontium-90 with a half-life of 28 years. Its loss is clearly observed throughout the world. When it settles on leaves and grass, it enters food chains that include humans. As a consequence of this, noticeable, although not yet dangerous, amounts of strontium-90 have been found in the bones of residents of most countries. The accumulation of strontium-90 in human bones is very dangerous in the long term, as it leads to the formation of malignant bone tumors.
Long-term contamination of the area with radioactive fallout. In the event of hostilities, the use of a hydrogen bomb will lead to immediate radioactive contamination of an area within a radius of approx. 100 km from the epicenter of the explosion. If a superbomb explodes, an area of ​​tens of thousands of square kilometers will be contaminated. Such a huge area of ​​destruction with a single bomb makes it a completely new type of weapon. Even if the superbomb does not hit the target, i.e. will not hit the object with shock-thermal effects, the penetrating radiation and radioactive fallout accompanying the explosion will make the surrounding space uninhabitable. Such precipitation can continue for many days, weeks and even months. Depending on their quantity, the intensity of radiation can reach deadly levels. A relatively small number of superbombs is enough to completely cover a large country with a layer of radioactive dust that is deadly to all living things. Thus, the creation of the superbomb marked the beginning of an era when it became possible to make entire continents uninhabitable. Even after long time After the cessation of direct exposure to radioactive fallout, the danger due to the high radiotoxicity of isotopes such as strontium-90 will remain. With food grown on soils contaminated with this isotope, radioactivity will enter the human body.
see also
NUCLEAR fusion;
NUCLEAR WEAPON ;
NUCLEAR WAR.
LITERATURE
Effect of nuclear weapons. M., 1960 Nuclear explosion in space, on earth and underground. M., 1970

Collier's Encyclopedia. - Open Society. 2000 .

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The content of the article

H-BOMB, a weapon of great destructive power (on the order of megatons in TNT equivalent), the operating principle of which is based on the reaction of thermonuclear fusion of light nuclei. The source of explosion energy is processes similar to those occurring on the Sun and other stars.

Thermonuclear reactions.

The interior of the Sun contains a gigantic amount of hydrogen, which is in a state of ultra-high compression at a temperature of approx. 15,000,000 K. At such high temperatures and plasma densities, hydrogen nuclei experience constant collisions with each other, some of which end in their fusion and ultimately the formation of heavier helium nuclei. Such reactions, called thermonuclear fusion, are accompanied by the release of enormous amounts of energy. According to the laws of physics, the energy release during thermonuclear fusion is due to the fact that during the formation of a heavier nucleus, part of the mass of the light nuclei included in its composition is converted into a colossal amount of energy. That is why the Sun, having a gigantic mass, loses approx. every day in the process of thermonuclear fusion. 100 billion tons of matter and releases energy, thanks to which life on Earth became possible.

Isotopes of hydrogen.

The hydrogen atom is the simplest of all existing atoms. It consists of one proton, which is its nucleus, around which a single electron rotates. Careful studies of water (H 2 O) have shown that it contains negligible amounts of “heavy” water containing the “heavy isotope” of hydrogen - deuterium (2 H). The deuterium nucleus consists of a proton and a neutron - a neutral particle with a mass close to a proton.

There is a third isotope of hydrogen, tritium, whose nucleus contains one proton and two neutrons. Tritium is unstable and undergoes spontaneous radioactive decay, turning into an isotope of helium. Traces of tritium have been found in the Earth's atmosphere, where it is formed as a result of the interaction of cosmic rays with gas molecules that make up the air. Tritium is produced artificially in a nuclear reactor by irradiating the lithium-6 isotope with a stream of neutrons.

Development of the hydrogen bomb.

Preliminary theoretical analysis has shown that thermonuclear fusion is most easily accomplished in a mixture of deuterium and tritium. Taking this as a basis, US scientists at the beginning of 1950 began implementing a project to create a hydrogen bomb (HB). The first tests of a model nuclear device were carried out at the Enewetak test site in the spring of 1951; thermonuclear fusion was only partial. Significant success was achieved on November 1, 1951 during the testing of a massive nuclear device, the explosion power of which was 4 × 8 Mt in TNT equivalent.

The first hydrogen aerial bomb was detonated in the USSR on August 12, 1953, and on March 1, 1954, the Americans detonated a more powerful (approximately 15 Mt) aerial bomb on Bikini Atoll. Since then, both powers have carried out explosions of advanced megaton weapons.

The explosion at Bikini Atoll was accompanied by the release of large amounts of radioactive substances. Some of them fell hundreds of kilometers from the explosion site on the Japanese fishing vessel "Lucky Dragon", while others covered the island of Rongelap. Since thermonuclear fusion produces stable helium, the radioactivity from the explosion of a pure hydrogen bomb should be no more than that of an atomic detonator of a thermonuclear reaction. However, in the case under consideration, the predicted and actual radioactive fallout differed significantly in quantity and composition.

The mechanism of action of a hydrogen bomb.

The sequence of processes occurring during the explosion of a hydrogen bomb can be represented as follows. First, the thermonuclear reaction initiator charge (a small atomic bomb) located inside the HB shell explodes, resulting in a neutron flash and creating the high temperature necessary to initiate thermonuclear fusion. Neutrons bombard an insert made of lithium deuteride, a compound of deuterium and lithium (a lithium isotope with mass number 6 is used). Lithium-6 is split into helium and tritium under the influence of neutrons. Thus, the atomic fuse creates the materials necessary for synthesis directly in the actual bomb itself.

Then a thermonuclear reaction begins in a mixture of deuterium and tritium, the temperature inside the bomb rapidly increases, involving more and more hydrogen in the synthesis. With a further increase in temperature, a reaction between deuterium nuclei, characteristic of a pure hydrogen bomb, could begin. All reactions, of course, occur so quickly that they are perceived as instantaneous.

Fission, fusion, fission (superbomb).

In fact, in a bomb, the sequence of processes described above ends at the stage of the reaction of deuterium with tritium. Further, the bomb designers chose not to use nuclear fusion, but nuclear fission. The fusion of deuterium and tritium nuclei produces helium and fast neutrons, the energy of which is high enough to cause nuclear fission of uranium-238 (the main isotope of uranium, much cheaper than the uranium-235 used in conventional atomic bombs). Fast neutrons split the atoms of the uranium shell of the superbomb. The fission of one ton of uranium creates energy equivalent to 18 Mt. Energy goes not only to explosion and heat generation. Each uranium nucleus splits into two highly radioactive “fragments.” Fission products include 36 different chemical elements and nearly 200 radioactive isotopes. All this constitutes the radioactive fallout that accompanies superbomb explosions.

Thanks to the unique design and the described mechanism of action, weapons of this type can be made as powerful as desired. It is much cheaper than atomic bombs of the same power.

Consequences of the explosion.

Shock wave and thermal effect.

The direct (primary) impact of a superbomb explosion is threefold. The most obvious direct impact is a shock wave of enormous intensity. The strength of its impact, depending on the power of the bomb, the height of the explosion above the surface of the earth and the nature of the terrain, decreases with distance from the epicenter of the explosion. The thermal impact of an explosion is determined by the same factors, but also depends on the transparency of the air - fog sharply reduces the distance at which a thermal flash can cause serious burns.

According to calculations, during an explosion in the atmosphere of a 20-megaton bomb, people will remain alive in 50% of cases if they 1) take refuge in an underground reinforced concrete shelter at a distance of approximately 8 km from the epicenter of the explosion (E), 2) are in ordinary urban buildings at a distance of approx. . 15 km from EV, 3) found themselves in an open place at a distance of approx. 20 km from EV. In conditions of poor visibility and at a distance of at least 25 km, if the atmosphere is clear, for people in open areas, the likelihood of survival increases rapidly with distance from the epicenter; at a distance of 32 km its calculated value is more than 90%. The area over which the penetrating radiation generated during an explosion causes death is relatively small, even in the case of a high-power superbomb.

Fire ball.

Depending on the composition and mass of combustible material involved in the fireball, gigantic self-sustaining firestorms can form and rage for many hours. However, the most dangerous (albeit secondary) consequence of the explosion is radioactive contamination of the environment.

Fallout.

How they are formed.

When a bomb explodes, the resulting fireball is filled with a huge amount of radioactive particles. Typically these particles are so small that once they reach the upper atmosphere, they can remain there for a long time. But if a fireball comes into contact with the surface of the Earth, it turns everything on it into hot dust and ash and draws them into a fiery tornado. In a whirlwind of flame, they mix and bind with radioactive particles. Radioactive dust, except the largest, does not settle immediately. Finer dust is carried away by the resulting cloud and gradually falls out as it moves with the wind. Directly at the site of the explosion, radioactive fallout can be extremely intense - mainly large dust settling on the ground. Hundreds of kilometers from the explosion site and at greater distances, small but still visible particles of ash fall to the ground. They often form a cover similar to fallen snow, deadly to anyone who happens to be nearby. Even smaller and invisible particles, before they settle on the ground, can wander in the atmosphere for months and even years, circling the globe many times. By the time they fall out, their radioactivity is significantly weakened. The most dangerous radiation remains strontium-90 with a half-life of 28 years. Its loss is clearly observed throughout the world. When it settles on leaves and grass, it enters food chains that include humans. As a consequence of this, noticeable, although not yet dangerous, amounts of strontium-90 have been found in the bones of residents of most countries. The accumulation of strontium-90 in human bones is very dangerous in the long term, as it leads to the formation of malignant bone tumors.

Long-term contamination of the area with radioactive fallout.

In the event of hostilities, the use of a hydrogen bomb will lead to immediate radioactive contamination of an area within a radius of approx. 100 km from the epicenter of the explosion. If a superbomb explodes, an area of ​​tens of thousands of square kilometers will be contaminated. Such a huge area of ​​destruction with a single bomb makes it a completely new type of weapon. Even if the superbomb does not hit the target, i.e. will not hit the object with shock-thermal effects, the penetrating radiation and radioactive fallout accompanying the explosion will make the surrounding space uninhabitable. Such precipitation can continue for many days, weeks and even months. Depending on their quantity, the intensity of radiation can reach deadly levels. A relatively small number of superbombs is enough to completely cover a large country with a layer of radioactive dust that is deadly to all living things. Thus, the creation of the superbomb marked the beginning of an era when it became possible to make entire continents uninhabitable. Even long after the cessation of direct exposure to radioactive fallout, the danger due to the high radiotoxicity of isotopes such as strontium-90 will remain. With food grown on soils contaminated with this isotope, radioactivity will enter the human body.