Why an atomic bomb is so powerful, where does the power of atomic bomb came from?

Question

Why an atomic bomb is so powerful, where does the power of atomic bomb came from?

Answer 1

its about reactions, i don't know which one it is but its either two atoms coming apart from each other, or two atoms joining each other.

its like a nuclear reaction

Answer 2

Came from the atom.

Answer 3

Einstein's famous equation, E=mc^2, explained that E, the energy that could be generated by matter is equal to m, the mass of that matter, multiplied by c, the speed of light, squared.  As c^2 is such a massive number (9 x 10^16), this means that even a small amount of matter could release an enormous amount of energy.

Although the total energy would only be available through the complete annihilation of matter by anti-matter, sufficient energy is released by the explosion of an atomic bomb to make a very big bang indeed.  The bomb dropped on Hiroshima contained 60 kg (130 pounds) of uranium-235, but only 1.38% or 828 g (1.79 pounds) of this actually fissioned.  However, this caused a blast yield equivalent to about 13 kilotons of TNT.

There are two basic types of nuclear weapons.  The first, usually referred to as atomic bombs, produce explosive energy through nuclear fission reactions.  In basic terms, this is where a large and barely stable atom, such as uranium-235 is split into two lighter atoms and in the process throws off two or three new neutrons which in turn run into other U-235 nuclei and so on in a self-sustaining chain reaction.  As the nucleus splits, about 0.1% of the original mass is converted into energy according to the Einstein equation above.  Even though this is still a very small amount of energy, the number of fissions increases exponentially, so after 10 generations there are about 9,500 fissions and in 50 generations, about 7.8 x 10^19 or 78 million trillion fissions occur.

The second type produces its energy through nuclear fusion, in a very similar process to our Sun, although all derive a significant, and sometimes a majority, from fission reactions.  They are called thermonuclear bombs due to the high temperatures used to initiate fusion, or hydrogen bombs, as they use deuterium and tritium, isotopes of hydrogen, as fuel.  Because fusion material cannot go overcritical no matter how much is used, these kinds of weapons may be made significantly more powerful than fission bombs by chaining together numerous stages with increasing amounts of fusion fuel.  The Teller-Ulam design, which accounts for all multi-megaton bombs, uses the energy of a fission bomb to compress the fusion fuel and heat it to thermonuclear temperatures.  The pressure also initiates fission in a plutonium-239 rod which then gives off neutrons plus radiation and heat.  The temperature and pressure is so great that it causes the tritium-deuterium and deuterium-deuterium nuclei to combine, forming a new nucleus of helium.  This new nucleus leaves a neutron spare and also requires less energy to keep it together.  The excess energy escapes as radiation and the neutron induces fission in uranium-238, used for parts of the construction casing, raising the temperature and starting another stage of fission-fusion reactions.

Answer 4

The nuclear binding energies involved are many orders of magnitude greater than chemical binding energies.

Answer 5

THe answer of this depends what level of studies you're at...

Most explosions we know (fireworks, gunpowder, plastic explosions...etc...) are a result of a CHEMICAL reaction.  In Chemical reactions... Chemicals break up into little fragments call molecules and/or atoms, and then they swap with other molecules or atoms from other chemicals

This swapping of molecules/atoms releases a lot of heat or energy.  [Higher Level]..The amount of energy released is due to the differences in the Electron Potential Energy Orbits of the of the reacting chemicals against the Elecron Orbit energies of the produced chemicals.

In an ATOMIC bomb, the reaction is an ATOMIC or NUCLEAR reaction.  In nuclear reactions, the nucleus of the atoms themselves split up, into tiny little fragments called Protons and Neutrons.  And these protons and neutrons combine with other protons and Neutrons to form new Atoms.

This releases a HUGE amount of energy.

[Higher Level]... the amount of energy released is due to the difference in MASS of the reacting atoms, against the mass of the new elements produced.  This mass difference is called Missing Mass, and it has been converted to pure energy via Einstein's famous equation...

       E = mc^2

So if 1 kg of mass was converted to energy, it would be..

          = 1kg x 300000000^2

          = 90 000 000 000 000 000 J

That's one violent explosion!!!

Our nuclear reactions today are Fission.  Meaning that atoms are split apart.  We shoot a neutron at a large atom (usually Uranium or Plutonium) and that large atom splits into 2 smaller atoms.  When you add up the mass of the 2 smaller atoms, it's LESS than the mass of the original larger atom (+ neutron), and so that (missing) mass is converted into Energy.

We don't have the technology to Join atoms together yet.  This is called Fusion.  So far, there's only one place where Fusion exists... in the Sun.. .(and other stars of course)...

btw: the person who finds a way to create and sustain Fusion, I reckon will be promoted to 1 rank below God!!!.  He or she will solve ALL known (energy-related) problems relating to this Earth.