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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapon#Types

**** Fission weapons ****
The two basic fission weapon designs
All existing nuclear weapons derive some of their explosive energy from nuclear
fission reactions. Weapons whose explosive output is exclusively from fission
reactions are commonly referred to as atomic bombs or atom bombs (abbreviated
as A-bombs). This has long been noted as something of a misnomer, as their
energy comes from the nucleus of the atom, just as it does with fusion weapons.
In fission weapons, a mass of fissile_material (enriched_uranium or plutonium)
is forced into supercriticality—allowing an exponential_growth of nuclear
chain_reactions—either by shooting one piece of sub-critical material into
another (the "gun" method) or by compression of a sub-critical sphere or
cylinder of fissile material using chemically-fueled explosive_lenses. The
latter approach, the "implosion" method, is more sophisticated and more
efficient (smaller, less massive, and requiring less of the expensive fissile
fuel) than the former.
A major challenge in all nuclear weapon designs is to ensure that a significant
fraction of the fuel is consumed before the weapon destroys itself. The amount
of energy released by fission bombs can range from the equivalent of just under
a ton to upwards of 500,000 tons (500 kilotons) of TNT (4.2 to 2.1×106 GJ).
[11]
All fission reactions generate fission_products, the remains of the split
atomic nuclei. Many fission products are either highly radioactive (but short-
lived) or moderately radioactive (but long-lived), and as such, they are a
serious form of radioactive_contamination. Fission products are the principal
radioactive component of nuclear_fallout. Another source of radioactivity is
the burst of free neutrons produced by the weapon. When they collide with other
nuclei in the surrounding material, the neutrons transmute those nuclei into
other isotopes, altering their stability and making them radioactive.
The most commonly used fissile materials for nuclear weapons applications have
been uranium-235 and plutonium-239. Less commonly used has been uranium-233.
Neptunium-237 and some isotopes of americium may be usable for nuclear
explosives as well, but it is not clear that this has ever been implemented,
and their plausible use in nuclear weapons is a matter of dispute.[12]
**** Fusion weapons ****
Main article: Thermonuclear_weapon
The basics of the Teller–Ulam_design for a hydrogen bomb: a fission bomb uses
radiation to compress and heat a separate section of fusion fuel.
The other basic type of nuclear weapon produces a large proportion of its
energy in nuclear fusion reactions. Such fusion weapons are generally referred
to as thermonuclear weapons or more colloquially as hydrogen bombs (abbreviated
as H-bombs), as they rely on fusion reactions between isotopes of hydrogen
(deuterium and tritium). All such weapons derive a significant portion of their
energy from fission reactions used to "trigger" fusion reactions, and fusion
reactions can themselves trigger additional fission reactions.[13]
Only six countries—United_States, Russia, United Kingdom, China, France, and
India—have conducted thermonuclear weapon tests. Whether India has detonated
a "true" multi-staged thermonuclear_weapon is controversial.[14] North_Korea
claims to have tested a fusion weapon as of January 2016[update], though this
claim is disputed.[15] Thermonuclear weapons are considered much more difficult
to successfully design and execute than primitive fission weapons. Almost all
of the nuclear weapons deployed today use the thermonuclear design because it
is more efficient.[16]
Thermonuclear bombs work by using the energy of a fission bomb to compress and
heat fusion fuel. In the Teller-Ulam_design, which accounts for all multi-
megaton yield hydrogen bombs, this is accomplished by placing a fission bomb
and fusion fuel (tritium, deuterium, or lithium_deuteride) in proximity within
a special, radiation-reflecting container. When the fission bomb is detonated,
gamma_rays and X-rays emitted first compress the fusion fuel, then heat it to
thermonuclear temperatures. The ensuing fusion reaction creates enormous
numbers of high-speed neutrons, which can then induce fission in materials not
normally prone to it, such as depleted_uranium. Each of these components is
known as a "stage", with the fission bomb as the "primary" and the fusion
capsule as the "secondary". In large, megaton-range hydrogen bombs, about half
of the yield comes from the final fissioning of depleted uranium.[11]
Virtually all thermonuclear weapons deployed today use the "two-stage" design
described above, but it is possible to add additional fusion stages—each
stage igniting a larger amount of fusion fuel in the next stage. This technique
can be used to construct thermonuclear weapons of arbitrarily large yield. This
is in contrast to fission bombs, which are limited in their explosive power due
to criticality danger (premature nuclear chain reaction caused by too-large
amounts of pre-assembled fissile fuel). The largest nuclear weapon ever
detonated, the Tsar_Bomba of the USSR, which released an energy equivalent of
over 50 megatons of TNT (210 PJ), was a three-stage weapon. Most thermonuclear
weapons are considerably smaller than this, due to practical constraints from
missile warhead space and weight requirements.[17]
Edward_Teller, often referred to as the "father of the hydrogen bomb"
Fusion reactions do not create fission products, and thus contribute far less
to the creation of nuclear_fallout than fission reactions, but because all
thermonuclear_weapons contain at least one fission stage, and many high-yield
thermonuclear devices have a final fission stage, thermonuclear weapons can
generate at least as much nuclear fallout as fission-only weapons. Furthermore,
high yield thermonuclear explosions (most dangerously ground bursts) have the
force to lift radioactive debris upwards past the tropopause into the
stratosphere, where the calm non-turbulent winds permit the debris to travel
great distances from the burst, eventually settling and unpredictably
contaminating areas far removed from the target of the explosion.