Ever since the first nuclear weapon was built in 1945, nuclear war has been a threat. The two major
nuclear powers in the world today are the Soviet Union and the United States. If a war ever broke out between
the two, which involved the use of nuclear weapons, the whole world would suffer from the effects. In this
report I am going to prove that nuclear weapons are a threat to all of us.
A nuclear weapon is any device that causes an explosion by the release of the energy in an atom.
They are much more powerful than any conventional or 'non nuclear' weapons. Nuclear weapons are divided
into two groups: fission weapons, which are often called atom bombs, and thermonuclear or fusion weapons,
which are often called hydrogen bombs because that is what they are made of.
FISSION WEAPONS
Fission weapons cause an explosion by the splitting of atomic nuclei.
This happens when a neutron
collides with the nucleus of an atom. The protons in the nucleus are transformed into a great amount of energy
and two or three more neutrons are sent out, which go on to split other nuclei. If this continues a process called
a chain reaction will occur. When this happens a fission explosion is the result. To form a chain reaction, a
certain amount of material is needed. This amount is known as the critical mass. If the amount is too small it
is known as a subcritical mass. The critical mass of a material depends on its purity. The materials used in
making fission weapons are uranium and plutonium. They are the only elements able to be used in making a
fission weapon.
There are two different ways to make a fission weapon: the gun-type method and the implosion
method. In...