So how do you make a nuclear bomb? Well, it really is quite easy actually........just a little understanding of some physics and some centrifuges and you are on your way to making critical mass, say 50 pounds of fissionable material.
U238 is the most common isotope of uranium found in nature. It is not fissile (releasing energy) but is a fertile material; it can capture a slow neutron and after two beta-decays become fissile plutonium 239, the second bomb that was used on Nagasaki. U238 is fissionable by fast neutrons but can not support sustained chain reaction capable of nuclear explosion.
So this is where the isotope U235 is used. Since U235 is unstable, containing "energetic" neutrons, it is fissionable. Neutrons are inherently unstable particles and they decay into protons. They also control the chemical reaction of atoms. Large centrifuges, or centrifugal force, is used to separate the two isotopes. While spinning in these large centrifuges, the lighter U235 atoms become less attracted to the magnetism in the middle and begin to filter off. Collecting these lighter U235 atoms is the process of enriching uranium or "yellow cake". But critical mass must be achieved and must be the correct estimate to sustain fission, otherwise the whole project is nullified. But once critical mass is achieved, a nuclear bomb is within grasp, capable of massive destruction........as we have already seen on the bomb "Little Fat Boy" that was used on Hiroshima.
What to learn more? Watch the Manhattan project on the History Channel and read Einsteins' letter to Roosevelt concerning the future of man and his depraved and destructive ways!
