/sci/ - Science & Math

>>10854019

Hey /sci/entists,

Non-STEM major from other boards here, just wanted to ask something regarding nuclear fission.

Inspired by my recent playthroughs of S.T.A.L.K.E.R., I went around Wikipedia and was looking up nuclear shit, and found out about the whole notion of 'criticality'. Now, I understand that fissile material going to criticality does not necessarily yield a nuclear explosion, but I'm curious what the difference is between, say, a fission reactor going critical (and just getting extremely hot), and a fission bomb (which goes boom). What's the difference that causes explosion? I'm guessing, from what I can understand of nuclear physics, that it's one or more of the following:

>Amount of fissile material present
>Containment of reaction causing extreme pressures (I know, at least, that extreme pressure yields explosions)
>Higher initial energy (since nuclear bombs rely on an initial conventional explosion for detonation)

>>2685699
>>2685746

For additional comparison, Louis Slotin got 21 Sv in a few seconds while doing something ALPHA AS FUCK involving a SCREWDRIVER and PLUTONIUM, and died horribly nine days later. His last words were "I told u I was hardcore."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Slotin