An atom bomb or A bomb produces a nuclear fission explosion. An hydrogen bomb or H bomb is when light atomic nuclei of hydrogen are joined together in an uncontrolled nuclear fusion reaction to release tremendous amounts of energy. A hydrogen bomb is 1000 times as powerful as the A bomb.

Atom bombs work by the principle of atomic fission (splitting the atomic nucleus), while hydrogen bombs work by atomic fusion (combining atomic nucei). The hydrogen bomb is hundreds or thousands of times more powerful than the atom bomb. The hydrogen bomb uses an atom bomb as a trigger.

A hydrogen bomb is a clean weapon which creates a lot of damage but no fallout. What gives it its radioactive fallout is the atomic bombs that cause it. A hydrogen bomb is much more powerful as is fuses two hydrogen atoms (hence the name), whereas an atomic bomb splits the nucleus of many atoms. Atomic bombs launch a neutron into an stable isotope making it unstable and so it splits releasing the same amount of energy as to how much mass is lost in the reaction (the mass of the original particle is greater than the resultant radioactive materials) the amount of energy can be calculated but Einsteins famous equation E = MC squared.

Fission at 1kt to 350kt , fusion at 10 kt to 20 megaton and then you have the 3 stage device that uses a U238 case around a fusion device and takes advantage of the fast neutrons to split the U238 for more bang for the buck yet. These can be arbitrarily large as shown in "Doctor Stranglove"

As has been said, the basic difference is a nuclear bomb fires neutrons into unstable isotopes which releases energy and more neutrons, causing a massive chain reaction and a lot of radioactive material. The hydrogen bomb works by fusing hydrogen atoms together to form helium (This is the same reaction that is in the core of our sun I believe) Think of the nuclear bomb as a big dirty unstable explosion, and the hydrogen bomb as a very very small sun :P lol

Atom Bomb http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombs Hydrogen bomb: http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0824719.html See info from : http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a960112b.html

I can't get too specific with you, because I didn't do enough study. But, Hydrogen bombs leave much more radiation and damage than nuclear bombs.

I also have a question about this topic. Which of the two types of nuclear bombs would terrorists most likely have. A Nuclear Fission bomb or a Nuclear Fusion Bomb?

Basically it entirely depends what yield you wish to get from the bomb for dependent on example how much material you use (what material also affects this) or the specific design you use (some designs use neutron reflectors to decrease the amount of material needed for it to achieve criticality). The general listing of power is an atomic bomb working under just fission principles (breaking a very heavy atom into two separate atoms). You can boost these kinds of devices by using something like a tritium (or other suitable substitute) bottle that feeds into the centre of the bomb and can dramatically increase the output of such a device. Above this you have hydrogen bomb as the next highest output. It works on a tamper made of a material that can undergo fission like Uranium 238, that inside it contains a deuturide of some kind and inside that is contained a fission bomb. The Fission bomb creates the correct conditions under which the deuturide can undergo fusion. This generates a large amount of Neutrons and these then set off fission reactions in the tamper. Together these three systems can yield bombs of the ranges of kilotons to millions of kilotons. In this classification a kiloton is equivalent to 1000 tons of TNT being set off to produce the same blast. Hope that helps.

hydrogen bomb is more powerfull because hydrogen bomb needs fisson to start where as atomic bomb need low amount of energy and when we expoled atomic bomb fisson energy realase where hydrogen realase fussion energy which millions times greater then fission

The difference between the two is that a typical atom bomb only uses fission only as the means of energy generation. This entails breaking a larger atom into a smaller ones in a reaction that continues at a rapid self-sustaining pace. A hydrogen bomb uses an atom bomb in the middle to set off a fusionable product surrounding it (like hydrogen, helium, tritium etc). This reaction then often sets off further fission reactions in an outer casing of potentially fissionable material like U-238 (this normally doesn't fission on it's own). So in effect it's a Fission-Fusion-Fission device. The power of these devices is somewhat scaleable, with a minimum yield and for fusion bombs anyway a near limitless output only constrained by the design and materials. So while there can be some overlap (you can "boost" conventional fission bombs often by injecting something like tritium into the core) hydrogen bombs are alot more powerful for the bang, they also tend to be somewhat cleaner per unit of output as more of the reaction products are used up and so less radioactive decay are generated (more tends to be generated as it's more powerful, but if you did the same damage with atom bombs it'd be even worse).

I could tell you, but then Homeland Security would have to make you disappear. :)

One goes BOOM! The other goes KA-BOOM!! I hope that helps.

the atom bomb is wayyyy more sexier!!!!!!!!!!!!! i mean, the hydrogen bomb is just not cute. its ugly. unlike the beautiful atom bomb(:

actually.. we dont know if the hydrogen is fusion or fission...but its initiated by a tradition a bomb and then increased thru the hydrogen phase. either way its bigger than a breadbox

The Hydrogen Bomb is over 1000 times stronger then the Atom Bomb. The H-Bomb actually leaves behind no radiation and the activation energy is tremendous! The A-Bomb leaves behind massive after effect, and requires a significant less amount of energy to occur. The H-Bomb running on Nuclear Fusion when activated uses so much energy that it can reach million of degrees in split seconds. The nuclear clean up is nothing on these bombs with no after effect the immediate effect however can kill believe it or not millions instantly anyone with a 400 mile radius of the bomb with high probability could be killed. This bomb has still not been perfected.

hi

This is the most simple anser...the difference is, the atom bomb is smaller, its lamer it does not nearly as much damadge...the hydrogen bomb is louder its massive and does 13,468.776 times more damadge...the atomic bomb splits the nuculis, where as the hydrogen mixes the nucleis make a louder, mmore kick a$$ bomb which totally rules...however, if i was given the choice of being given a bomb or a .22 sileced rifle...totally then rifle...i mean how the hang can u launch your bomb or throw it off a plane...??? dood... haha

There are two types of nuclear bombs: atomic and hydrogen. Atomic bombs are the type of nuclear bomb which rely on the process of fission, or rapid splitting of an atom's nucleus, to produce an explosion. The "atom" or "A" bomb uses fission of uranium or plutonium in a single step reaction, rather than multiple steps, to achieve its effect. They are the simpler form of nuclear weapon. This is in contrast to the other type, the so-called thermonuclear bomb, which is also known as a hydrogen or "H" bomb. Hydrogen bombs use the process of fusion, or combining atoms, in addition to fission. A hydrogen bomb involves the fusion of a hydrogen isotope on an atomic scale by way of steps of mutiple reactions thus yielding a much more powerful explosion upwards of 500 million tons of TNT. Thus hydrogen bombs contain part of the same fission reaction as an atomic bomb, but also have a more powerful reaction of fusion in addition

fission and fusion are their main difference though i dont believe things which i not see.

Atom bomb is fission, hydrogen bomb is fusion. Fusion bomb is much more powerful. Fusion bomb requires a fission bomb at it's core as a "trigger". +2