|
|
Article: The destroyer. (the hydrogen bomb) (Modern Wonders )
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- December 25, 1993
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1993 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
THE earth has 286 cities of more than a million people--and enough nuclear weapons to destroy them all, many times over, in moments. The hydrogen bomb has changed not merely the nature of international conflict, but the way people think. For more than 30 years, mankind has lived with the knowledge that the end of the world is an achievable aim.
The first nuclear weapons depended on nuclear fission. Some atomic nuclei (those of uranium and plutonium) will split in half when hit by a neutron, releasing energy and more neutrons. Put enough of them together, and you can start a chain reaction, in which the neutrons from one nucleus split another, and so on. This process ...