Question
The explosive yield of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima near the end of World War II was approximately 15.0 kilotons of TNT. One kiloton corresponds to about $4.18 \cdot 10^{12} \mathrm{~J}$ of energy. Find the amount of mass that was converted into energy in this bomb.
Step 1
We know that 1 kiloton corresponds to $4.18 \cdot 10^{12} \mathrm{~J}$ of energy. Therefore, the energy yield of the atomic bomb is $15.0 \mathrm{~kilotons} \cdot 4.18 \cdot 10^{12} \mathrm{~J/kiloton} = 62.7 \cdot 10^{12} \mathrm{~J}$. Show more…
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The explosive yield of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima near the end of World War II was approximately 15.0 kilotons of TNT. One kiloton is about $4.18 \cdot 10^{12} \mathrm{~J}$ of energy. Find the amount of mass that was converted into energy in this bomb.
The energy released during the nuclear explosion at Hiroshima has been estimated as the equivalent of that released by 20,000 tons of TNT (a conventional explosive). Assume that 200 MeV energy is released when a U-235 nucleus absorbs a neutron and fissions and also assume that 3.3X10^9 J energy is released during detonation of 1 ton of TNT. a. How many nuclear fissions occurred at Hiroshima? b. What was the total decrease in the mass of the atomic bomb?
The energy released in a nuclear explosion is stated as the equivalent mass of the chemical explosive TNT, usually in thousands of tons (kilotons; kt) or megatons (Mt). Exploding 1 g of TNT releases about 1000 calories $=4.184 \mathrm{~kJ}$ of energy. Early fission weapons yielded around 15 kilotons. How much uranium235 had to fission to produce this explosive yield, assuming $200 \mathrm{MeV}$ per fission event? Compare with the total mass of uranium in early bombs, about $50 \mathrm{~kg}$.
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