hydrogen bomb
a bomb, more powerful than an atomic bomb, that derives its explosive energy from the thermonuclear fusion reaction of hydrogen isotopes.
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Origin of hydrogen bomb
1- Also called fu·sion bomb [fyoo-zhuhn bom], /ˈfyu ʒən ˌbɒm/, ther·mo·nu·cle·ar bomb [thur-moh-noo-klee-er bom] /ˌθɜr moʊˈnu kli ər ˌbɒm/ .
- Also H-bomb [eych-bom] /ˈeɪtʃˌbɒm/ .
- Compare atomic bomb.
Words Nearby hydrogen bomb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use hydrogen bomb in a sentence
No national leader in the world today has seen a nuclear explosion, much less the detonation of a multi-megaton hydrogen bomb.
Experimenting with hydrogen bombs, the U.S. blew lives apart | Gregg Herken | November 5, 2021 | Washington PostHarold Agnew, former director of the Los Alamos nuclear weapons lab, believed that world leaders should be periodically required to witness the detonation of a hydrogen bomb, simply to remind them of what would happen if things got out of hand.
Experimenting with hydrogen bombs, the U.S. blew lives apart | Gregg Herken | November 5, 2021 | Washington PostThe effect is akin to a hydrogen bomb, a powerful thermonuclear weapon in which fission reactions trigger fusion, says Matt Caplan of Illinois State University in Normal.
Uranium ‘snowflakes’ could set off thermonuclear explosions of dead stars | Emily Conover | March 30, 2021 | Science NewsHe also worked on Project Matterhorn B in the early 1950s, the controversial US effort to develop a hydrogen bomb.
That time physicist John Wheeler left classified H-bomb documents on a train | Jennifer Ouellette | December 30, 2020 | Ars TechnicaAny chance the suspended hydrogen bomb will make a return appearance later in the season?
"It's true that one of the possibilities in building a hydrogen bomb concerns deuterium," the scientist said.
The Caves of Fear | John BlaineMost of the reporting night shift at the Aiken hydrogen bomb plant never reached the tightly-guarded gates.
Warning from the Stars | Ron CockingForce of a hydrogen bomb—forty thousand innocent people gone in a microsecond.
--And Devious the Line of Duty | Tom Godwin"That rocket was built around a hydrogen bomb," O'Donnell said, his strong face triumphant.
The Leech | Phillips BarbeeHis words were broken off by the tremendous roar and concussion of the hydrogen bomb.
High Dragon Bump | Don Thompson
British Dictionary definitions for hydrogen bomb
a type of bomb in which energy is released by fusion of hydrogen nuclei to give helium nuclei. The energy required to initiate the fusion is provided by the detonation of an atomic bomb, which is surrounded by a hydrogen-containing substance such as lithium deuteride: Also called: H-bomb See also fusion bomb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for hydrogen bomb
An extremely destructive bomb whose explosive power is derived from the energy released when hydrogen atoms are fused to form helium. This atomic fusion reaction is the same reaction that takes place in stars like the Sun, where the pressure of gravity forces hydrogen atoms to fuse; a hydrogen bomb uses the force of an atomic explosion (the fission reaction exploited in atomic bombs) to compress the hydrogen to the point where fusion takes place. Hydrogen bombs are many times more powerful than atomic bombs.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for hydrogen bomb
A nuclear weapon with enormous explosive power, fueled by nuclear fusion, in which atoms of hydrogen combine to form atoms of helium.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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