Rosatom-the Russian nuclear energy agency, on August 20, 2020 released an over 40-minute video showing the detonation of the world’s most powerful hydrogen bomb.
- The Soviet Union tested the 50-million-ton hydrogen bomb, officially named RDS-220 and nicknamed Tsar Bomba, in late October 1961. Now it has been declassified.
- The explosive was believed to have been at least 3,333 times as destructive as the atomic bomb that wreaked havoc in Japan’s Hiroshima in 1945.
- The RDS-220 hydrogen bomb was first tested over Novaya Zemlya, an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean.
What is Hydrogen Bomb?
- A hydrogen bomb is a type of nuclear bomb, just like an atomic bomb, however, the difference comes from how that energy is created.
- An atomic bomb uses fission, that is, the breaking of an atom’s nucleus into smaller particles. This results in the release of neutrons and lots of energy that become an atomic explosion.
- In comparison, a hydrogen bomb is about fusion — fusing atomic nuclei together to combine into bigger ones.
Source: Indian Express and CNBC