It differs from the pressure wave of a block buster in the size of the area over which high pressures are generated. An atomic bomb also generates a wave of high pressure which is in fact of, much higher pressure than that from ordinary explosions and this wave is again the major cause of damage to buildings and other structures. A wave of high pressure thus rapidly moves outward from the center of the explosion and is the major cause of damage from ordinary high explosives. to gas, which occupies initially the same volume as the solid it exerts intense pressures on the surrounding air and expands rapidly to a volume many times larger than the initial volume. is derived from the rapid conversion of solid T.N.T. The explosive effect of an ordinary material such as T.N.T. The nuclear fission of a pound of uranium would produce an equal temperature rise in over 200 million pounds of water. of water from freezing temperature (32 deg F) to boiling temperature (212 deg F). explodes would, if converted entirely into heat, raise the temperature of 36 lbs. The energy released when a pound of T.N.T. The significance of the equation is easily seen when one recalls that the velocity of light is 186,000 miles per second. Einstein's equation, E = mc^2, shows that matter that is transformed into energy may yield a total energy equivalent to the mass multiplied by the square of the velocity of light. A considerable fraction of the mass of the explosive charge, which may be uranium 235 or plutonium, is transformed into energy. In an atomic explosion the identity of the atoms, not simply their arrangement, is changed. Ordinary explosion is a chemical reaction in which energy is released by the rearrangement of the atoms of the explosive material. bomb is of course in magnitude as the President announced after the Hiroshima attack, the explosive energy of each of the atomic bombs was equivalent to about 20,000 tons of T.N.T.īut in addition to its vastly greater power, an atomic explosion has several other very special characteristics. The most striking difference between the explosion of an atomic bomb and that of an ordinary T.N.T.
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