As thetension in the Middle-Eastrises, the threat looming over the world is a nuclear bomb may be used. The United States joined the Israel-Iran war citing Iran’s nuclear program.
But what exactly would happen if a nuclear bomb is used in awar? News18 explains how the consequences won’t be limited to the spot or even just the three countries.
Scientists warn that such a scenario could lead to environmental and biological disasters for the planet, even causing a worldwide famine.
The basic principle behind anuclearexplosion is the equivalence of mass and energy, explained by Albert Einstein’s equation E=mc². Here, E stands for energy, m for mass, and c for the speed of light. This means mass and energy are two forms of the same thing.
When the bonds in an atom are broken, a small amount of mass turns into energy, causing a massive explosion.
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There are two processes: fission and fusion. Most modern nuclear weapons are thermonuclear, involving two stages.
Fission:Heavy and unstable atoms like plutonium-239 are split. When brought to a ‘supercritical’ state under high pressure, neutrons hit other atoms, starting an uncontrolled chain reaction. In just nanoseconds, huge amounts of gamma rays and energy are released.
Fusion:The intense heat from the first stage fuses deuterium and tritium (hydrogen isotopes) together. This is the same process that powers the sun.
Today’s thermonuclearweaponscan release thousands of times more energy than the ‘Little Boy’ bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.
Source: World News in news18.com, World Latest News, World News
