# H-Bomb question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 14, 2002, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-bomb-question/108966 "2002-05-14T03:45:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-bomb-question/108966/1 "2002-05-14T03:45:23Z")
The hydrogen bomb is a fusion device triggered by the a-bomb. The isotopes of hydrogen-deuterium and/or tritium-fuse to release exrodinary amounts of explosive energy. Are the hydrogen isotopes a cryogenic liquid, or a room temperature compound? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-bomb-question/108966/2 "2002-05-14T04:09:17Z")
In the early weapons, a room-temperature gas was used: > [@](#): > > [High-Energy Weapons Archive (Note new domain. Update bookmarks.)](http://nuketesting.enviroweb.org/hew/Nwfaq/Nfaq1.html#nfaq1.5) > The earliest application of fusion to useful weapons was the development of boosted fission weapons. In these weapons a few grams of a deuterium/tritium gas mixture are included in the center of the fissile core. That goes for hydrogen fusion bombs. Other elements can be used, such as the light metal lithium. Lithium, being a metal, is quite solid at room temperature/pressure. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-bomb-question/108966/3 "2002-05-14T04:54:08Z")
This [do it yourself H-bomb](http://my.ohio.voyager.net/~dionisio/fun/make-your-own-h-bomb.html) uses lithium hydride or lithium deuteride as the fusion fuel. Hydrogen is much easier to deal with in solid form than as a liquid or gas. Plus, at high enough temperatures Li + D -\> 2D + a whole bunch of energy. ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-bomb-question/108966/4 "2002-05-14T05:10:53Z")
**Squink** , that link is pretty funny, while being fairly accurate (as far as I know). My favorite quote: > [@](#): > > (Safety note: Don’t put all your enriched uranium hexafluoride in one bucket. Use at least two or three buckets and keep them in separate corners of the room. This will prevent the premature build-up of a critical mass.) Hee, Hee 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-bomb-question/108966/5 "2002-05-14T11:30:54Z")
Hey, don’t laugh too soon. The accident at Tokaimura, Japan a couple of years ago (3 deaths) happened precisely for that reason. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-bomb-question/108966/6 "2002-05-15T02:23:21Z")
Is it possible to build a fusion device using helium-3 instead of tritium? I was thinking along the lines of a bomb that wasn’t dependent on short-lived isotopes, and could be “shelved” for an indefinitely long time. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-bomb-question/108966/7 "2002-05-15T05:03:10Z")
Fusing helium produces a much smaller mass-defect, so I’m not at all convinced that helium would even be suitable, much less efficient.