thermonuclear bomb: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As	hydrogen bomb • H-bomb

Photos and Videos

Thermonuclear bomb

Diagram showing the Teller-Ulam two-stage thermonuclear bomb design, with four labeled stages: a chemical explosion in the primary fission core, X-ray transfer and compression, ignition of a secondary fusion stage, and fusion fuel detonation. Key components such as the fission fuel, uranium tamper, and polystyrene foam are illustrated and labeled.

Diagram of a thermonuclear warhead cut open to reveal internal components, including a primary fission trigger with deuterium-tritium gas, plutonium-239, beryllium, and chemical explosives, and a secondary fusion device with uranium-235, lithium deuteride fusion fuel, and a uranium case, all labeled for educational reference.

What is the difference between nuclear fission and fusion?

Split image showing Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer at a chalkboard on the left and actor Cillian Murphy portraying Oppenheimer with a cigarette and hat on the right.

View footage of the first test of a hydrogen bomb carried out by the United States in the Marshall Islands

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Topics

Teller-Ulam configuration thermonuclear warhead Today in History—April 7: That time the U.S. briefly lost a nuclear bomb atomic bomb neutron bomb

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Key People

Teller, Edward

Edward Teller

Hungarian-born American physicist

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Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov

Soviet physicist