On Feb 11, 2005, at 11:34 AM, Howard Brazee wrote: > On Fri, 11 Feb 2005 11:56:26 -0700, Jeff G. <Log0n5150 at hotmail.com> > wrote: > >> Your splitting hairs at this point, the difference between an atomic >> weapon >> and a nuclear weapons is only of interest to physicists, the end >> result is the same. > > My bachelor's was in physics. Could you enlighten me on this > difference? > > -- > Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/ > > I read someplace that a nuke (i. e. a hydrogen bomb) is a "fusion" weapon whereas an atomic bomb is a "fission" weapon. The same source said that a fusion weapon is so powerful that it requires a fission weapon for a trigger. Since I'm a total nontechnical person I'm guessing that the trigger is like blasting caps for dynamite. I have no idea how accurate any of this is.