On Wed, 24 Aug 1994, Perry E. Metzger wrote:
In a fusion, or H Bomb, the tritium (which is just hydrogen with an extra two neutrons) is that which produces the boom -- the main fuel, as it were. Its a "neutron source" only in the weakest possible sense -- the same way dynamite might be considered to need nitroglycerine as a "neutron source". (I'm not sure that people outside of the bomb building industry really know *for sure* what the geometries used in the atomic weapon that sets off the fusion reaction.)
Perry
Since the bomb thread won't die a seemly death I thought I'd throw in my .00000002 megabucks. Modern H bombs are actually fission-fusion-fission devices. The traditional U-235 (or Pu-239) atomic bomb sets off a fusion reaction burning the tritium, producing alot of fast neutrons that in turn sets off another fission explosion in the otherwise non-fissile U-238 that is wrapped around the outside of the bomb. More bang for the buck, and it gives you something to do with all that U-238 you got while purifying the U-235. C. J. Leonard ( / "DNA is groovy" \ / - Watson & Crick <cjl@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu> / \ <-- major groove ( \ Finger for public key \ ) Strong-arm for secret key / <-- minor groove Thumb-screws for pass-phrase / )