Nuclear weapons have been a source of controversy since their inception in the late 1930s. What began with The Manhattan Project and a growing effort to counter hints at Russian advances, resulted in the world's most powerful, sublime, and redoubtable agents of destruction. From the war-loving frenzy of the '40s to the institutional rejection of it in today's age, nuclear weapons have gradually transmuted from humanity's fleeting triumph to the absolute darkest application of our intelligence.
It's hard to discern the exact innards of a nuclear bomb, as a ton of these details are kept under secrecy accords that will have you prosecuted for high treason should any figure divulge them. And if you don't have access to tons of uranium, Tony Stark level enrichment plants, billions in resources, and the world's greatest engineers, you don't need to know everything. I can however, discuss many of the fundamentals.
Most applications we've seen of these bombs are referred to as fission bombs, or more broadly, atomic weapons. The main idea is that scientists load a gigantic container with tons of uranium, which is the key agent in producing a chain of what's called fission events. You then have a spark of energy that ignites a vicious chemical process, with thousands of pounds of the radioactive metal to intensify the radius of destruction. Fission works by taking a super heavy element and splitting all of its nuclei apart with the help of uranium to do the underlying dirty work. The result, is decades of radioactive poison, infrastructural rebuilds, and constant reminders of why stuff like this should never have seen fruition.
The other type of nuclear weapon is thermonuclear, or more aptly called a hydrogen bomb. Instead of uranium, a thermonuclear bomb uses hydrogen as its destructive agent, and immense amounts of energy are created by isotope hydrogen atoms constantly banging into each other and trying to fuse. Hydrogen bombs are in every way better than their predecessors. Stronger, more predictable, and without the long term dispersion of radiation, they would have been the clear choice in warfare should nuclear efforts not have come to such a sudden halt. The most powerful bomb ever detonated was a hydrogen bomb, and it was called Tsar Bomba, developed by the Russians with the potential to destroy the entire the state of Connecticut.
Our inherent duty to destroy and persevere raises ethical issues. Nuclear weapons are the direct result of humanity's efforts to be the momentary masters of time, knowing that this existence, as Carl Sagan puts it, is nothing more than a "fraction of a dot" in a very vast cosmos. It's this insatiable desire to be atop everyone else that is destroying us, and it's our moral obligation to end this kind of suffering.
Charlie Chaplin puts a lot of this into perspective in The Great Dictator. We've made machines that make us faster, technology that defies the laws of physics, and yet the world is "barricaded with hate" and we've been "goose-stepped into misery and bloodshed." These inventions were intended to better us, and yet they've made the way for hate and intolerance.
I hope all of you can realize the intersection of social justice and science. The fundamental principles of science are to create, understand, and theorize, all for the reasons of furthering our progress, not diminishing it. Carry that with you, and the world is a much better place.