What Exactly Is A Hydrogen Bomb?
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - North Korea officials claim to have successfully tested a hydrogen bomb versus the atomic bomb, something the United States says is highly unlikely.
So what exactly is a hydrogen bomb?
Simply put, the hydrogen bomb is more powerful than an atomic bomb, says Dr. Christopher Peters with Drexel University:
"The atom bomb uses purely splitting of atoms, the hydrogen bomb uses splitting of atoms first and then fuses them together."
Which he says packs more punch:
"Fusion puts two pieces together, puts two atoms together to release energy."
Dr. Peters says destruction would depend on the size of the hydrogen bomb, and the energy it could create:
"You get a large yield from the heat and from the pressure, created from the bomb. Not only do you crush things, or burn, or knock things down from the pressure shock point of view, but you burn things."
The United States first successfully tested a hydrogen bomb in 1952.