Russian Life & People Digest
Question by : How much hydrogen was in the 50 megaton Tsar Bomb?
Does anybody know how much hydrogen was in the Tsar bomb?
If not then how much hydrogen goes into a hydrogen bomb with a certain amount of megatons? You’re free to choose how many megatons but please tell me how many!
Answers and Views:
Answer by TEXAS ROCKS!!!
It should just be a few atoms since it does not take much for it to make a huge explosion.
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tham153 says
so called hydrogen bombs use tritium and deuterium, not simple hydrogen
exact amounts are highly classified for fairly obvious reasons, but any half way decent third year physics major should be able to come up with a reasonable approximation. I have no desire for unfriendly spooks visiting so I have no further answer
cf. what happened to Cleve Cartmill when he described an atomic bomb is a science fiction story publushed in 1944, and to his publisher, John W. Campbell, Jr.
Who says
If you mean hydrogen gas then none
No hydrogen bomb has hydrogen gas in it
(it dont even contain normal hydrogen AT ALL but isotopes of hydrogen – deuterium or tritium and these in metalised form not gases)
Morningfox says
Most of the hydrogen in the bomb is in the form of lithium deuteride. In the early stages of the explosion, this is hit by a lot of neutrons, which produces tritium (heavy hydrogen). It is this tritium which causes most of the power of the blast, by means of nuclear fusion. Only about 30 grams of tritium and 20 grams of deuterium actually undergo fusion. But it takes about 100 times this much to make the a bomb (1% conversion efficiency).
50 grams converted to energy = 1.08 megatons.
The Tsar probably had about 50 times this, or 2.5 kg. Times 100 makes 250 kg of lithium deuteride. The whole bomb, case and all, is said to have been 27,000 kg.
L_Dopa says
First of all, the bulk of the explosion in a hydrogen bomb comes from uranium fission. The Tsar Bomba used 3 stages, two of which relied on uranium fission, with the third probably a mixture of heavy isotopes of hydrogen and deuterium. Seondly, governments do not divulge how much material is needed to produce nuclear explosions. One reason, besides the obvious, is that it is not just the mass or amount of the material that matters; it is also the purity of it, and its proportions to other material involved in the explosion. In other words, to say exactly how much of what material and in what proportions is needed to make a nuclear weapon would be like giving away a top-secret recipe for an entree that the future of the restaurant depends upon. It’s like this: chefs know in theory how to make a great gumbo…but not THAT great gumbo! Also, no two gumbos are exactly alike! (Ok, so not so great an analogy…It’s close to dinner time, and I’m hungry!) 🙂