Nuclear 101: How Nuclear Bombs Work Part 1/2
Nuclear 101: How Nuclear Bombs Work Part 1/2 on HackerTube: recommended by 4 Hacker News commenters across 4 separate months, 2018–2024.
Harvard Belfer Center lecture by Matthew Bunn explaining how nuclear bombs work, including fission and fusion weapons and which parts of bomb-making are hard. It is part 1 of 2 in the Nuclear 101 series.
What HN commenters said
5 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.
virgulinoSep 2024Strongly recommends
For anyone interested in the basics of nuclear weapons, I highly recommend the "Nuclear 101: How Nuclear Bombs Work" lectures by Matthew Bunn, a man heavily involved in nuclear arms control. His lectures are always highly entertaining, a real pleasure to watch. This is a clip from his lecture explaining the basics of thermonuclear warheads: [link] And the full “Nuclear 101” lecture, in two parts: ▶ this video [link]
in “Did Sandia use a thermonuclear secondary in a product logo?” · View on HN
shaqbertMar 2018Strongly recommends
In context, here is a great video from the Belfer center on nuclear bomb making and what are the hard parts [0]. Getting the fission material is the hard part, and in order to get plutonium nukes you need a enrichment plant, i.e. a reactor that is not meant to produce energy but breed plutonium. [0] ▶ this video (at min 47, he starts talking about the hard parts)
in “No Longer a Secret: How Israel Destroyed Syria's Nuclear Reactor” · View on HN
nordsieckNov 2024Recommends
> It's because of the way the weapons are designed, which requires a CNWDI clearance to know, so your curiosity is not likely to be sated. While that's true, the information that is online is surprisingly detailed. For example, this series "Nuclear 101: How Nuclear Bombs Work" ▶ this video [link]
in “El Capitan: New supercomputer is the fastest” · View on HN
verdvermJan 2023Recommends
▶ this video has a good explanation of how nuclear weapons work. It may be possible that a missel is disabled and when it hits the ground, produces a much lower yield explosion than designed for, in particular a plutonium device, if I recall the video and extrapolate with sufficient accuracy
in “Ask HN: What happens if a nuclear missile is air-destroyed before detonation?” · View on HN
espeedMar 2019Cites it
On US soil you'd have fallout from the soil getting sucked up into the atmosphere. See... "Why World War II Matters - Victor Davis Hanson" [video] [link] Harvard Belfer Center: "Nuclear 101: How Nuclear Bombs Work Part 1/2" [video] ▶ this video
in “Revolutionary Ideas in Science, Math, and Society [video]” · View on HN