Nuclear explosion: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Operation Upshot-Knothole - Badger 001.jpg|right|250px|thumb|A 23 kiloton tower shot called [[Operation Upshot–Knothole|BADGER]], fired on April 18, 1953 at the [[Nevada Test Site]], as part of the [[Operation Upshot–Knothole]] [[nuclear testing|nuclear test series]].]] |
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[[File:Greenhouse George Early Fireball.ogv|right|250px|thumb|The [[operation Greenhouse|Greenhouse]] George test early fireball.]] |
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[[File:Operation Upshot test.ogv|thumb|Upshot–Knothole Grable test (film)]] |
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{{nuclear weapons}} |
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A '''nuclear explosion''' is an [[explosion]] that occurs as a result of the rapid release of energy from a high-speed [[nuclear reaction]]. The driving reaction may be [[nuclear fission]] or [[nuclear fusion]] or a multi-stage cascading combination of the two, though to date all fusion-based weapons have used a fission device to initiate fusion, and a [[pure fusion weapon]] remains a hypothetical device. |
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Atmospheric nuclear explosions are associated with [[mushroom cloud]]s, although mushroom clouds can occur with large chemical explosions. It is possible to have an air-burst nuclear explosion without those clouds. Nuclear explosions produce [[radiation]] and [[radioactive]] debris. |
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==History== |
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{{Expand section|date=November 2008}} |
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{{Main article|Nuclear weapons testing|List of nuclear weapons tests|History of nuclear weapons}} |
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The first man made nuclear explosion occurred on July 16, 1945 at 5:50 am on the [[Trinity Test]] Site near [[Alamogordo]], [[New Mexico]] in the United States, an area now known as the [[White Sands Missile Range]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=U.S. Department of Energy|title=Trinity Site - World's First Nuclear Explosion|url=https://energy.gov/management/trinity-site-worlds-first-nuclear-explosion|website=Energy.gov Office of Management|accessdate=23 December 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Taylor|first1=Alan|title=70 Years Since Trinity: The Day the Nuclear Age Began|journal=The Atlantic|date=July 16, 2015|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2015/07/70-years-since-trinity-when-we-tested-nuclear-bombs/398735/|accessdate=23 December 2016}}</ref> The event involved the full-scale testing of an implosion-type fission [[atomic bomb]]. In a memorandum to the U.S. Secretary of War, General Leslie Groves describes the yield as equivalent to 15,000 to 20,000 tons of TNT.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Groves|first1=General Leslie|title=The First Nuclear Test in New Mexico: Memorandum for the Secretary of War, Subject: The Test|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/primary-resources/truman-bombtest/|accessdate=23 December 2016|agency=PBS.org|publisher=United States War Department|date=July 18, 1945}}</ref> Following this test, a uranium-gun type nuclear bomb ([[Little Boy]]) was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, with a blast yield of 15 kilotons; and a plutonium implosion-type bomb ([[Fat Man]]) on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, with a blast yield of 21 kilotons. In the years following [[World War II]], eight countries have conducted nuclear tests with 2475 devices fired in 2120 tests.<ref name=Yang>{{citation|last1=Yang|first1=Xiaoping|first2=Robert|last2=North|first3=Carl|last3=Romney|first4=Paul G.|last4=Richards|date=August 2000|title=Worldwide Nuclear Explosions|url=http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~richards/my_papers/WW_nuclear_tests_IASPEI_HB.pdf|accessdate=2013-12-31}}</ref> |
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In 1963, the [[United States]], [[Soviet Union]], and [[United Kingdom]] signed the [[Limited Test Ban Treaty]], pledging to refrain from testing [[nuclear weapon]]s in the atmosphere, underwater, or in outer space. The treaty permitted underground tests. Many other non-nuclear nations acceded to the Treaty following its entry into force; however, two nuclear weapons states have not acceded: [[France]], [[China]] {{citation needed|date=December 2016}} |
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The primary application to date has been military (i.e. nuclear weapons), and the remainder of explosions include the following: |
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*[[Nuclear pulse propulsion]], including using a nuclear explosion as asteroid deflection strategy. |
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*Power generation; see [[PACER (fusion)|PACER]] |
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*[[Peaceful nuclear explosions]] |
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==Nuclear weapons== |
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{{Main article|Nuclear weapons|History of nuclear weapons}} |
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Only two nuclear weapons have been deployed in [[combat]]—both by the United States against [[Japan]] in [[World War II]]. The first event occurred on the morning of 6 August 1945, when the [[United States Army Air Forces]] dropped a [[uranium]] gun-type device, code-named "[[Little Boy]]", on the city of [[Hiroshima]], killing 70,000 people, including 20,000 Japanese combatants and 20,000 Korean [[Unfree labour|slave laborers]]. The second event occurred three days later when the United States Army Air Forces dropped a [[plutonium]] implosion-type device, code-named "[[Fat Man]]", on the city of [[Nagasaki]]. It killed 39,000 people, including 27,778 Japanese munitions employees, 2,000 Korean slave laborers, and 150 Japanese combatants. In total, around 119,000 people were killed in these [[bomb]]ings. (See ''[[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]]'' for a full discussion). Nuclear weapons are largely seen as a 'deterrent' by most governments; the sheer scale of the destruction caused by a nuclear weapon has prevented serious consideration of their use in [[war]]fare, rendering the concept of [[total war]] completely useless.{{citation needed|date=December 2016}} |
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===Nuclear testing=== |
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{{Main article|Nuclear testing}} |
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Since the [[Trinity (nuclear test)|Trinity test]] and excluding the combat use of nuclear weapons, mankind (those few nations with capability) has detonated roughly 1,700 nuclear explosions, all but 6 as tests. Of these, six were [[peaceful nuclear explosion]]s. '''Nuclear tests''' are experiments carried out to determine the effectiveness, yield and explosive capability of nuclear weapons. Throughout the 20th century, most nations that have developed nuclear weapons had a staged test of them. Testing nuclear weapons can yield information about how the weapons work, as well as how the weapons behave under various conditions and how structures behave when subjected to a nuclear explosion. Additionally, nuclear testing has often been used as an indicator of scientific and military strength, and many tests have been overtly political in their intention; most [[list of countries with nuclear weapons|nuclear weapons states]] publicly declared their nuclear status by means of a nuclear test. |
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==Effects of nuclear explosions== |
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{{Main article|Effects of nuclear explosions}} |
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The dominant effects of a nuclear weapon (the blast and thermal radiation) are the same physical damage mechanisms as conventional [[Explosive material|explosive]]s, but the energy produced by a nuclear explosive is millions of times more per gram and the temperatures reached are in the tens of [[megakelvin]]. Nuclear weapons are quite different from conventional weapons because of the huge amount of explosive energy they can put out and the different kinds of effects they make, like high temperatures and nuclear radiation. |
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The devastating impact of the explosion does not stop after the initial blast, as with conventional explosives. A cloud of nuclear radiation travels from the epicenter of the explosion, causing an impact to life forms even after the heat waves have ceased. |
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Any nuclear explosion (or [[nuclear war]]) would have wide-ranging, long-term, catastrophic effects. [[Radioactive contamination]] would cause [[genetic mutation]]s and cancer across many generations.<ref>[[Malcolm Fraser]] and [[Tilman Ruff]]. [http://www.theage.com.au/comment/2015-is-the-year-to-ban-nuclear-weapons-20150219-13jali.html#ixzz4BTMwrzJ2 2015 is the year to ban nuclear weapons], |
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''[[The Age]]'', February 19, 2015.</ref> |
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==See also== |
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*[[Lists of nuclear disasters and radioactive incidents]] |
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*[[Soviet nuclear well collapses]] |
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*[[Nuclear weapons in popular culture#List of visual depictions|Visual depictions of nuclear explosions in fiction]] |
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==References== |
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{{reflist}} |
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==External links== |
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* Video — [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFiBXFFzT5c Nuclear Explosion Power Comparison] |
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{{Nuclear Technology}} |
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{{Authority control}} |
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{{Portal bar|Nuclear technology}} |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nuclear Explosion}} |
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[[Category:Nuclear physics]] |
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[[Category:Nuclear chemistry]] |
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[[Category:Nuclear weapon design]] |
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[[Category:Nuclear accidents and incidents]] |
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[[Category:Articles containing video clips]] |
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Revision as of 04:58, 17 December 2018
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