TITLE:
Student-level numerical simulation of conditions inside an exploding fission-bomb core
AUTHORS:
Bruce Cameron Reed
KEYWORDS:
Nuclear Weapons; Numerical Simulation; Fission; Little Boy
JOURNAL NAME:
Natural Science,
Vol.2 No.3,
April
12,
2010
ABSTRACT: This paper describes a freely-available spread-sheet that has been developed to simulate the conditions of reaction rate, core acceleration and velocity, energy generation, and pressure within a detonating fission-bomb core. When applied to a model of the Hiroshima Little Boy bomb, the spreadsheet predicts a yield of 12.7 kilotons, a figure in reasonable agreement with published values.