Nuclear weapon

High school (ages 12+)
Science & Technology

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/nuclear-weapon

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the primary mechanisms?Nuclear fission (splitting heavy atoms) and nuclear fusion (joining light atoms)
2. What is the development origin?Manhattan Project (USA, UK, Canada) during World War II
3. How does an atomic bomb work?An atomic bomb splits heavy atoms like uranium or plutonium when a neutron hits them. This creates a chain reaction that releases a lot of energy very quickly.
4. Why are hydrogen bombs more powerful than atomic bombs?Hydrogen bombs use a small atomic bomb to start a fusion reaction, where light atoms like hydrogen join together. Fusion releases much more energy per unit of mass than fission alone.

Fissile Material: Substances like Uranium-235 and Plutonium-239 capable of sustaining a nuclear fission chain reaction.
Thermonuclear Weapon: A more powerful type of nuclear weapon that uses a fission bomb to trigger a fusion reaction.
Nuclear Proliferation: The spread of nuclear weapons, nuclear technology, and fissile material to countries not recognized as 'nuclear weapon states'.
Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD): A doctrine of military strategy and national security policy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two or more opposing sides would cause the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender.