How Do You Make a Nuclear Bomb?

Oct. XX, 2005— -- There are two significant hurdles to building a nuclear weapon: 1) acquiring the necessary quality and quantity of nuclear material and 2) fashioning that material into a workable weapon.

Nuclear bombs are generally made according to one of two designs -- a gun-type assembly or an implosion design.

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Uranium

U-235 is fissile. Because of the different number of neutrons in its nucleus (143 versus 146), some properties of U-235 differ significantly from those of U-238. In particular, when an external neutron reacts with or "captures" a U-235 nucleus, the nucleus splits or "fissions." This releases energy.