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Log–log plot comparing the yield (in kilotonnes) and mass (in kilograms) of various nuclear weapons developed by the United States.. The explosive yield of a nuclear weapon is the amount of energy released such as blast, thermal, and nuclear radiation, when that particular nuclear weapon is detonated, usually expressed as a TNT equivalent (the standardized equivalent mass of trinitrotoluene ...
The equations were first developed in the 1940s by Ronald Gurney [2] and have been expanded on and added to significantly since that time. The original paper by Gurney analyzed the situation of an exploding shell or bomb, a mass of explosives surrounded by a solid shell. Other researchers have extended similar methods of analysis to other ...
A hollow plutonium pit was the original plan for the 1945 Fat Man bomb, but there was not enough time to develop and test the implosion system for it. A simpler solid-pit design was considered more reliable, given the time constraints, but it required a heavy U-238 tamper, a thick aluminium pusher, and three tons of high explosives. [citation ...
The detonation velocity values presented here are typically for the highest practical density which maximizes achievable detonation velocity. [ 1 ] The velocity of detonation is an important indicator for overall energy and power of detonation, and in particular for the brisance or shattering effect of an explosive which is due to the ...
By the time the warhead entered production in April 1960, it also incorporated the firing set from the Mod 1 warhead. [ 10 ] The Mark 49 Mod 4 only came in the Y2 yield option, [ 11 ] was 2.1 inches (53 mm) longer than the original warhead, and weighed 1,640 pounds (740 kg) and 1,732 pounds (786 kg) without and with ablative material respectively.
This warhead type uses the interaction of the detonation waves, and to a lesser extent the propulsive effect of the detonation products, to deform a dish or plate of metal (iron, tantalum, etc.) into a slug-shaped projectile of low length-to-diameter ratio and project this towards the target at around two kilometers per second.
A B83 casing. The B83 is a variable-yield thermonuclear gravity bomb developed by the United States in the late 1970s that entered service in 1983. With a maximum yield of 1.2 megatonnes of TNT (5.0 PJ), it has been the most powerful nuclear weapon in the United States nuclear arsenal since October 25, 2011 after retirement of the B53. [1]
Some sources give the yield for the Mod 0 as 250 tons of TNT (1,000 GJ) and the Mod 2 as 10 to 20 tons of TNT (42 to 84 GJ), [1] but declassified warhead development documents indicate the only difference between these two warheads was the environmental sensing devices used and that the warheads were field convertible, suggesting the weapons ...