North Korea nuclear bomb test: What’s the difference between a hydrogen and an atomic bomb? And why is it so worrying?
Both atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs are kinds of nuclear bombs, meaning that the energy comes from nuclear reactions. But the way that they actually release that huge amount of energy is different — and leads to massive differences in the power that is unleashed when they are set off.
The big difference is that atomic bombs use nuclear fission, which splits a bigger atom into two smaller ones, to create their energy. Hydrogen bombs use fusion, which is done by fusing two or more atoms into a bigger one.