Question

The energy released in the most energetic hydrogen bombs is often expressed in terms of how much TNT it would take to create the same energy release. The energy content of a large H-bomb is often expressed in megatons (1 megaton = 1 million tons of TNT). In more commonly used units, a megaton corresponds to 4.2 x 1015 Joules of energy, where a Joule is the kinetic energy of a softly hit tennis ball.

Given that information, calculate how much energy was released when the KT impactor hit the Earth 65 million years ago. Express your answer in terms of how many megaton H-bombs it would take to produce the same amount of energy. The energy released corresponds to all of the original kinetic energy of the incoming asteroid, which was moving at an estimated speed of 50 km/sec. Assume that the asteroid was spherical and had a diameter of 12 kilometers and a density of 3000 kg/m3.

Remember that the mass m of a body is its density times it volume. And use the fact that the kinetic energy of a body moving at velocity v is ½mv2. (Youll have the answer in Joules if you use kilograms for mass and meters/sec for the velocity.)

Answer 1

The term atomic bomb, nuclear bomb, and hydrogen bomb are confused/confusing.Atomic bomb and nuclear bomb are generic and basically mean any bomb powered byatomic/nuclear energy fission or fusion. Hydrogen bomb specifically means a bombpowered by fusion. Some specific variants, using correct terminology are:Fission bomb, a bomb fueled by uranium and/or plutoniumFusion bomb, a bombfueled by hydrogen isotopes (however most fusion bombs 90% of their yield isactually still due to fission of uranium-238 in the radiation casing surroundingthe fusion fuel assembly.)Boosted fission bomb, a fission bomb with a hollowsealed core filled with tritium gas. When the fission bomb is detonated thetemperature/pressure ignites tritium fusion in the gas, which produces anintense flash of high energy neutrons causing additional fission in the (nowvapor) fissile core material, boosting the yield.Neutron bomb, a fusion bomb

using a neutron transparent material for the radiation casing instead of uranium-238. A neutron bomb typically has only 10% the yield of a similar designstandard fusion bomb but has much less fallout, but kills by prompt neutronradiation instead of blast and fire.etc.