noun

• An immensely powerful bomb whose destructive power comes from the rapid release of energy during the nuclear fusion of isotopes of hydrogen (deuterium and tritium), using an atom bomb as a trigger.

  ‘The atom bomb, the hydrogen bomb, and ballistic missiles had all been ‘perfected.’’

  More example sentences

  • ‘The atomic bomb was superseded in the 1950s by the hydrogen bomb, the potential power of which was at least ten times that of its predecessor.’
  • ‘A hydrogen bomb is triggered by an atomic bomb, and so could only be developed by countries that already had an atomic weapon capability.’
  • ‘Later he helped develop the atomic bomb and promoted the hydrogen bomb.’
  • ‘Ways of changing world views, both ours and ‘theirs’, may seem like an odd weapon, far more odd even than a hydrogen bomb that is too powerful to be used in a war.’
  • ‘Unbeknownst to them, the French also had developed a hydrogen bomb, almost as powerful as the US's.’
  • ‘The impact energy of 20 million tons of TNT was roughly equivalent to the power of a hydrogen bomb.’
  • ‘By 1952, the United States tested a hydrogen bomb, a bomb more powerful than an atomic bomb.’
  • ‘Fusion in H-bombs is ignited by a fission chain reaction of uranium or plutonium: an atom bomb is used to set off the hydrogen bomb.’
  • ‘For more than four decades, scientists have been trying to develop a method for bringing under control the awesome fusion power of a hydrogen bomb for use in commercial power plants.’
  • ‘The nuclear force not only makes life on earth possible, it is also the devastating force unleashed by a hydrogen bomb, which can be compared to a piece of the sun brought down to earth.’
  • ‘So much energy can be released quickly that the process has also been used for the hydrogen bomb.’
  • ‘It's this reaction that powers the sun and gives the explosive force to a hydrogen bomb.’
  • ‘In 1949, the Soviet Union successfully tested an atomic bomb, and in August 1953 detonated a hydrogen bomb.’
  • ‘He was given a nuclear depth-bomb: like a depth charge but actually a hydrogen bomb.’
  • ‘Although China suffered from famine in the early 1960s, the country finally exploded its first atomic bomb on October 16, 1964, followed by its hydrogen bomb in 1967.’
  • ‘Administration officials turned from fostering plans for disarmament to winning the Korean War and developing the most destructive weapon yet: the hydrogen bomb.’
  • ‘When a neutron is added, hydrogen's atomic mass rises to two, yielding deuterium, in isotope which is necessary for the manufacture of the hydrogen bomb.’
  • ‘When that bomb went off in November 1971 it was the last hydrogen bomb ever detonated on planet Earth.’
  • ‘Two years ago when I first revealed that the United States was considering a hydrogen bomb, there was a terrific furor.’