Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
gun-assembly fission bomb
References
Images
Diagram showing three nuclear weapon designs: a gun-assembly fission bomb with uranium-235 and a conventional explosive, an implosion fission bomb with a plutonium-239 core surrounded by explosive lenses, and a boosted-fission bomb with a plutonium core, uranium tamper, and fusion fuel, all labeled with their main components inside cutaway metal casings.
Britannica AI Icon

gun-assembly fission bomb

weapon
Written by
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The Information Architects maintain a master list of the topics included in the corpus of  Encyclopædia Britannica, and create and manage the relationships between them.
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last updated

Quick Summary

Diagram showing three nuclear weapon designs: a gun-assembly fission bomb with uranium-235 and a conventional explosive, an implosion fission bomb with a plutonium-239 core surrounded by explosive lenses, and a boosted-fission bomb with a plutonium core, uranium tamper, and fusion fuel, all labeled with their main components inside cutaway metal casings.
Fission bomb The three most common fission bomb designs, which vary considerably in material and arrangement.

A gun-assembly fission bomb is a type of nuclear weapon that uses a simple design to create a nuclear explosion. This design involves rapidly bringing together two subcritical masses of fissile material, typically highly enriched uranium-235, into a supercritical configuration. This is achieved by using an explosive propellant to fire one mass down a barrel into another.

This method is too slow for plutonium, as it increases the chance of a premature chain reaction, resulting in a much smaller yield. The critical mass, the minimum amount of fissile material needed for a sustained chain reaction, is also a key factor, with a sphere having the smallest critical mass.123

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
3 Britannica Sources
  1. nuclear weapon - Gun assembly , implosion , and boosting
  2. nuclear weapon - Critical mass and the fissile core
  3. nuclear weapon - The fission process

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.