What is Bomb: Definition and 163 Discussions

A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechanical stress, the impact and penetration of pressure-driven projectiles, pressure damage, and explosion-generated effects. Bombs have been utilized since the 11th century starting in East Asia.The term bomb is not usually applied to explosive devices used for civilian purposes such as construction or mining, although the people using the devices may sometimes refer to them as a "bomb". The military use of the term "bomb", or more specifically aerial bomb action, typically refers to airdropped, unpowered explosive weapons most commonly used by air forces and naval aviation. Other military explosive weapons not classified as "bombs" include shells, depth charges (used in water), or land mines. In unconventional warfare, other names can refer to a range of offensive weaponry. For instance, in recent Middle Eastern conflicts, homemade bombs called "improvised explosive devices" (IEDs) have been employed by insurgent fighters to great effectiveness.
The word comes from the Latin bombus, which in turn comes from the Greek βόμβος (bombos), an onomatopoetic term meaning "booming", "buzzing".

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  1. K

    What is the Equivalent Strength of the Chicxulub Impact in Atomic Bombs?

    Hi PF Forum, How are you guys. I hope you guys are doing fine. I often come a statement like this. This earthquake is as strong as 1 million atomic bombs. This volcano is as strong as some million atomic bombs. And now in this video. Chicxulub impact "... this impact carried more than 10...
  2. R

    B Does the bomb experiment do a measurement?

    In short, the Elitzur–Vaidman bomb experiment consists of a Mach–Zehnder interferometer, where a bomb is placed in one of the paths (I used the wikipedia description https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elitzur%E2%80%93Vaidman_bomb_tester, and Sabine Hossenfelder's video: ) The bomb can be live or a...
  3. S

    I Elitzur–Vaidman bomb tester in multi-world interpretation

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elitzur–Vaidman_bomb_tester In the Elitztur-Weidman experiment there are bombs that are triggered by a single photon hitting their detector, and with some probability you can find out that the bomb is working, despite the fact that it did not explode. I'm trying...
  4. B

    Min Plane Height to Drop Bomb in Hollow: 335m

    A plane is flying 80km/h in horizontal direction and it has to drop a bomb into 30m wide and 30m deep hollow. What is the smallest possible height for the plane to fly above hollow if the bomb successfully hits the bottom? I made a mistake somewhere but not sure where... the correct result is...
  5. rudransh verma

    Bomb explosion -- calculating the momentum of one of the fragments

    I think if the two parts move in -x and +y direction, it must be balanced by the resultant of the two vectors but in opposite direction. So ##p\sqrt5## will be the answer. But I don’t think this is the right way to solve this.
  6. A

    Fusion reactors are neutron sources AKA fission bomb factories?

    Assumptions: 1) Fusion reactors are easily obtainable. Every spacecraft or hover-car has one. 2) Fusion reactors are neutron sources. 3) Neutron sources are the "difficult bit" in the enrichment of uranium and plutonium. 4) Uranium and plutonium are "freely" available in asteroids or...
  7. Seibtsantos

    Pressure in a bomb calorimeter at the moment of combustion

    First, I calculated the number of moles of glucose. n = m / M n = 1.8 / 180 n = 0.01 moles of glucose So I checked the combustion reaction. 1 C6H12O6 + 6 O2 -> 6 CO2 + 6 H20 1 + 6 -> 6 + 6 0.01 + 0.06 -> 0.06 + 0.06 I considered the number of moles at the end of the reaction. I subtracted...
  8. Vanilla Gorilla

    I Black Hole Bomb Effectiveness: Mirrors or Wormholes?

    For the Black Hole Bomb to be effective, does it need the mirrors there, or can they be replaced with wormholes, or some other quirk of spacetime?
  9. G

    I How does Bohmian mechanics explain quantum bomb testing?

    Hi. In an Elitzur–Vaidman bomb tester, will the guiding wave be different in a situation with a live bomb compared to one with only a dud? And if yes, how does the bomb interact with the guiding wave? Because usually it is described as a pointlike device that only explodes when hit by the...
  10. F

    B Why does a U-238 tamper increase nuclear yield of nuclear bomb?

    Why does U-238 tamper increase nuclear yield of nuclear bomb? I mean it is not fissile.
  11. Jeremy Thomson

    Nuclear backpack bomb, glow in the dark paint

    "Glow in the dark paint was applied to the lock, so a soldier could unlock the miniature bomb in the dark". I'm thinking that its unlikely 'glow in the dark paint' would be tritium based. More likely radium, which was used up to WWII for instrument dials etc. But I don't know. Backpack nukes...
  12. U

    I Uncovering the Mystery of the 1991 Atomic Bomb Ignition Papers

    I recently looked at a transcript of a 1991 interview of Hans Bethe, where he recalled the suggestion that an atomic bomb could ignite the air. "Teller at Los Alamos put a very good calculator on this problem, [Emil] Konopinski, who was an expert on weak interactors, and Konopinski together...
  13. M

    Is an antimatter bomb feasible?

    I'm back to writing the sequel to my first novel and for reasons of maximum destruction, an antimatter bomb is in play. But, from various sources an antimatter bomb is not as destructive as the movies - and novels - suggest. Antimatter annihilation results in high-speed neutrinos and a burst of...
  14. F

    B Can U-233 be made into a bomb?

    Can U-233 only be made into bomb just like U-235? There are conflicting views on whether U-233 (alone without plutonium) can be made into (nuclear)bomb or not. Further more, can it weaponized both using implosion and guntype or only one of them? Thanks for answer/-s.
  15. DennisN

    News Atomic Veterans talk after 50 Years (video)

    This is one of the most powerful and incredible short movies I have ever seen. (I got the link to it from a friend today.) It contains clips of interviews of American soldiers who were exposed to real nuclear detonations. What they have to say is terrifying, intense and important. That's all I...
  16. R

    Genesis of the Recent Bomb Cyclone

    I wish to learn more about how the recent bomb cycline covering the midwest from Colorado to Minnesota came into being. Can anyone point me to a forum and/or article where such meteorological topics are discussed?
  17. ShayanJ

    Lemonade bomb (spoiler alert for "The Foreigner")

    I just watched the movie "The foreigner". In one scene, the character played by Jackie Chan, makes a bomb with a really weird recipe. Here's the scene: As you can see, he just hangs two lemonade bottles from a string. Then attaches a match box and a cigarette to the string from which the...
  18. Jaakub

    Is it possible to create a quantum bomb?

    I was wondering if it is possible to use bose-einstein condensate to create a warhead with more yield then any other bomb? If so please let me know I can't find anything about it online.
  19. S

    Urgent -- Bomb Calorimetry Combustion Reaction

    Homework Statement The combustion of 0.1577 g benzoic acid increases the temperature of a bomb calorimeter by 2.51°C. a) Calculate the heat capacity of this calorimeter. (The energy released by combustion of benzoic acid is 26.42 kJ/g.) A 0.2123-g sample of vanillin is then burned in the same...
  20. P

    How did Robert McNamara's 100 megaton bomb stay hidden from the public eye?

    In Fog Of War, a superb documentary about the life lessons learned by Robert McNamara is mentioned the design development and detonation of a 100 megaton bomb. I have no reason to doubt what McNamara said was untrue or a lie, what's the point of that anyway? Anyone have any ideas how such a...
  21. T

    Variable Yield Thermonuclear Bomb Dialing

    Ok so this week I was studying aerodynamic differences between a "Fat Man" bomb which was dropped on Nagasaki and the Aim 120c Air to Air Missile. What intrigued me with nuclear weapons was the "Variable Yield", SO I did some research to see how it works . I couldn't mind much on how to adjust a...
  22. NewBie911

    B How does a nuclear bomb explode?

    ok , it might be a silly question .. but i just want to know how does the nuclear bomb react when her rockets touch the ground .. for sure the nuclear bomb isn't like the normal bomb or the dynamite that needs a spark to exploid ( excuse me I am not that good in physics :v )
  23. S

    I Stupid question - how does fission bomb get initial neutron?

    OK, I understand the idea of neutron bombardment of fissile material causing the nuclei of this material to split, thereby releasing more than 1 neutron, which then go on to bombard other nuclei, such that if more than 1 neutron per reaction ends up causing further reactions, the rate of...
  24. G

    How does the Tamper in a nuclear bomb survive?

    I can't really explain my query fully in the space of a title but after hearing an explanation about how nuclear bombs work there is one thing I don't understand - the fissile material is in the centre, around that is the neutron deflector and around that the conventional explosives (this is...
  25. J

    MHB Bomb Game Project: Enter 3-Digit Code to Disarm Before Time Runs Out

    Hey everyone! This is my own personal project that I'm trying to get right but i ran into a bit of a problem. Here's the idea: I want to make a text based game where the player inputs data such as choices or numbers reflected what's asked of them from the program. The below program is...
  26. Sarah Madsen

    How to analyse an atomic bomb?

    < Mentor Note -- thread moved to HH from the technical physics forums, so no HH Template is shown > Hello mates. I was wandering how to analyze an atomic bomb, when the only information given, is that the bomb contains 5,6 kg plutonium, and is the same model as fat man. Do you have any...
  27. entropy1

    B Riddle of the Bomb in Train: Solve the Mystery!

    I saw in an other topic the following thought experiment: In the middle of a train there is a bom with two lightdetectors. At both ends of the train there are two switchable lightsources. The two lightdetectors measure the respective light from both sources. We switch on both switches...
  28. Metals

    B Understanding Nuclear Bombs: The Physics Behind Their Devastation

    Now I'm familiar with how nuclear fission works to produce thermal energy and alpha/ beta/gamma radiation, but how do they work in the bomb? When is the high energy neutron fired into the uranium-235, and when does the chain reaction producing the heat begin? Why is it that there's a huge...
  29. A

    Minimum distance between bomb and shell

    1. Prolem Statement:- An aircraft is flying horizontally with constant velocity = ##200 m/s##, at a height = ##1 km## above the ground. At the moment shown, a bomb is released from aircraft and the canon- gun below fires a shell with initial speed = ##200 m/s##, at some angle #\theta#. 1)For...
  30. pBrane

    I Would Schrödinger's bomb be as uncertain as his cat?

    if you were standing next to Schrödinger's bomb, triggered by a random event. Would you say "The bomb is both exploded and unexploded?".
  31. M

    Can a Magnetic Field Stop a Nuclear Bomb?

    So I was thinking about ways to stop the nuclear bomb and I know enough to say that it is close to impossible to stop a nuclear bomb once it has detonated. So, the only time to stop it is before it explodes. What if we generated a magnetic field in which the protons and electrons within it would...
  32. nomadreid

    How clean was the "Tsar bomb"?

    quoting from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bomba about the "tsar bomb": To limit fallout, the third stage and possibly the second stage had a lead tamper instead of a uranium-238 fusion tamper (which greatly amplifies the reaction by fissioning uranium atoms with fast neutrons from the...
  33. Isaac0427

    How did E=mc^2 contribute to the atomic bomb?

    Before I got into physics, I thought that ##e=mc^2## was the atomic bomb equation. I now know that the equation itself has nothing to do with the atomic bomb. So, I'm wondering, how did ##e=mc^2## contribute to the development of nuclear/atomic weaponry/power? Edit: I do not know if this is in...
  34. J

    Physics of Dropping Bombs from Stationary Aircraft

    I am trying to understand the physics of dropping a bomb from an airplane for a bombsight simulator. In particular I'm trying to understand the effects of drag on the bomb in flight. Let's say that a bomb, shaped like a blunt bullet, has lower drag in the forward direction than it does...
  35. RooksAndBooks

    News 30% of Republicans: Bomb Aladdin's City

    While coming across online news, I saw an article by the Independent saying that they support the bombing of Agrabah. If you do not know what that is, it's the location where the movie Aladdin took place. This, of course, is a fictional city so I was laughing hysterically. Now, I know not every...
  36. Alpha123

    At what angle should the bomb be released?

    Homework Statement There is a plane flying at 200 km/h and wants to drop a bomb on a car traveling 130 km/h which is 78.0m below the plane. at what angle should the bomb be released? the answer is 45 degrees. Homework Equations sine law: SinA/a= SinB/b cosine law: a^2=b^2+c^2+bcCosA v=d/t...
  37. StevieTNZ

    News Terrorists Target Tourists in Bangkok Bomb Blast

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/71209685/thai-bomb-targeted-tourists-defence-minister-says No one has yet claimed responsibility for the bombs. What a tragedy. No where is safe to travel anymore.
  38. S

    The Effects of Radiation on Lead: Examining the Tsar Bomb

    I've read that the Tsar Bomb used a lead casing for the second and third stages of the bomb instead of a uranium casing. A uranium casing would have resulted in fast fusion but would have created too much fallout. Typical Hydrogen bombs use uranium casings. A uranium casing would have indeed...
  39. H

    Understanding Bomb Calorimeters: Measuring ΔE and ΔH for Calorimetry Homework

    Homework Statement My book says that bomb calorimeters are used to measure ΔE while coffee cup calorimeters are used to measure ΔH. Isn't ΔE for bomb calirometers the same as ΔH? Homework EquationsThe Attempt at a Solution Bomb Calorimeter: ΔH = ΔE + PΔV = ΔE (since, constant volume). So ΔH =...
  40. R

    Nuclear fission in an atomic bomb

    A person said: "However uranium-235 (U235) makes up only 0.72% of normal uranium metal and has to be separated from the remainder (mostlyuranium-238) in special factories which makes uranium-235 (U-235) a little more expensive. An uranium-235 (U-235) atomic has three neutrons less than an...
  41. M

    MHB Function if a plane dropping a bomb.

    Vertically: The initial velocity: =0 Acceleration: a=-9.8 Target Height: y=0 Current Height: y=8000m time=40.40 Horizontally: Velocity=133.88 Acceleration=0 time=40.40 Using these values, I have calculated that the bomb will drop 5408.75 meters away. Now I am trying to find the total...
  42. AdityaDev

    Ring of smoke after bomb blast

    I attended the navy day celebrations and the marine commandos demonstrated a bomb blast by setting a time bomb in a small installation at the middle of the sea. The commandos dived from their boat and set the explosives from underwater. After the explosion, what I saw first was a cloud of black...
  43. gauss44

    Coffee cup, bomb calorimeter: Open, closed, or isolated?

    Is a coffee cup usually considered to be a closed system? Why or why not? Does it matter that steam or hot coffee may be evaporating? (I think the steam is usually considered to be an insignificant amount of matter, allowing classification to be a closed system, but am unsure.) Is a bomb...
  44. gcombina

    Conservation of Momentum - BOMB EXPLOSION question

    Homework Statement QUESTION 1 :A stationary bomb explodes in space breaking into a number of small fragments. At the location of the explosion, the net force do to gravity is 0 Newtons. Which one of the following statements concerning the event is true? a) Kinetic energy is conserved in the...
  45. L

    Trajectory of an airdropped bomb

    Homework Statement I want to derive an equation for the place where airdropped bomb is going to hit the ground. Known data at the moment of drop: 1) position [x,y,z] also and the pitch angle (between the airplane's axis and the ground - we assume that Earth is flat) 2) linear and angular...
  46. V

    Dimensional analysis - atomic bomb explosion radius

    Homework Statement :[/B] An atomic explosion can be approximated as the release of a large amount of energy ##E## from a point source. The explosion results in an expanding spherical fireball bounded by powerful shock wave. Let ##R## be the radius of the shock wave and assume that...
  47. J

    A bomb, what's actually happening?

    Take a hydrogen bomb. The instant after the atom is split, what happens? I always imagined it as the protons and neutrons stay in tact, but the separation of their strong force bonds releases a bunch of energy in the form of EM radiation. But how does a bunch of EM radiation cause such huge...
  48. G

    Model Flow Over Bombs: Rotation & Drag Coefficients

    I'm working on a project that will find the coefficient of drag on bombs with various added drag features by modeling flow over the bomb at various angles of attack using CFD. The problem is that I'm not sure if bombs with fins rotate while they are falling due to gravity, and if so, how I...
  49. G

    What happens if the nuclear bomb is placed and exploded on the Jupiter

    Hello. I know that more than 80 percent of the atmosphere of the Jupiter is the hydrogen. Does this fact mean that intense explosion possibly with the nuclear bomb burn all the gas of the Jupiter? There must be huge difference to the explosion on Earth.
  50. karush

    MHB A bomb is dropped from an airplane

    this looks like a very easy problem but I was ? about the bomb not dropping really in a vertical direction but implies that when it hits the ground it will right over the plane? this was under exercises for differentiation but don't why it would be used for this no ans in bk on this one..
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