Word: lithium
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That experiment in 1932 was man's first taste of nuclear energy, but it was like the quick-fading taste of a single grain of sugar. Since most of the protons missed their targets, the hydrogen-lithium reaction gave a net loss of energy, and no one knew how to improve its efficiency. Other reactions of light elements yielded theoretical energy too, but all of them were overshadowed by the wartime development of atom-splitting uranium fission...
...early postwar period, the prospects for fusion did not look very good. The available light elements-lithium, ordinary hydrogen and deuterium (heavy hydrogen)-seemed to require more heat than could be provided by the first atom bombs. The third hydrogen isotope, tritium, looked more promising. A mixture of tritium (H³) and deuterium (H²) will ignite at a comparatively low temperature, turning into helium (He4) and a free neutron, and giving a big yield of energy...
...bombs (the March 1 explosion may have been the first of them) use chemical forces instead of cold and pressure to keep their volatile hydrogen crammed into a small space. Their main charge is lithium hydride, a chemical compound containing one atom of lithium and one of hydrogen. Since it is a stable solid that needs no unusual treatment, its use eliminates the troubles connected with liquid hydrogen. It is the key to what airmen call a "transportable" H-bomb...
...Plain lithium hydride, which can be bought on the open market, is probably not the kind that the bomb-builders use. Natural lithium contains two isotopes, L17 and L16, which behave differently in a fusion reaction. Most guessers believe that L16 is the preferred isotope. The hydrogen in the compound is probably deuterium (H²). So the compound may be described as "lithium-six deuteride...
What happens when a charge of lithium-six deuteride is ignited is almost anyone's guess. A great many reactions are possible, and many must surely take place (see diagram). The main reaction is the combination of L16 with H², forming two atoms of helium (He4) and giving off a flood of energy. Since helium is the final product, the well-designed bomb should produce as much of it as possible, but side reactions are likely. Neutrons from the reacting plutonium are apt to hit lithium atoms, turning them into helium and tritium (H³). Tritium...