Nukes are made when Uranium 238 becomes plutonium 239 which is a man made element in the first nuke this is what was used. It was a 4 kilo. sphere of plutonium 239 with a beryllium reflector.
In World War Two when America tested the atom bomb " Trinity" we used 6.1 kilograms of Plutonium 239 with 2268 kilograms of explosives strapped around the core. There needs to be a whole lot of explosives to cause the reaction. The reaction works by splitting the atoms and the splitting causes heat and the reaction can be dangerous if not kept in a safe environment. How it went off or detonated was implosion not explosion so the bomb crashed it self and that set off the reaction. I have no idea how it was an implosion with that much explosives. The first atomic weapon used was "Little Boy" it had most of the same specs but it had a gun like piston which shot the plutonium and started the reaction that devastated Hiroshima it also went off 580 meters above the ground. The second one used was "Fat Man" was the same as "Trinity" but went off at 500 meters above the ground and destroyed Nagasaki. The first Hydrogen bomb "Ivy Mike" was tested on November 1st 1952.
article:http://www.wisconsinproject.org/pubs/articles/2001/bomb%20facts.htm
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