nuclear weapon

Also known as nuke, atomic weapon, nuclear arms, nuclear weaponry

explosive device that gets its destructive force from nuclear reactions

AI overview

A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that uses nuclear reactions—the splitting or combining of atoms—to create enormous destructive force. These weapons matter because they can cause unprecedented damage over vast areas, making them central to international security concerns and global politics.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Research

3,396 papers

International security: what nuclear weapon states have not learnt in 75 years.Medicine, conflict, and survival · 2020Birch M, van Bergen LDOI: 10.1080/13623699.2020.1812799
Nuclear bomb and public health.ReviewJournal of public health policy · 2023Xu S, Dodt ADOI: 10.1057/s41271-023-00420-x
Vertical nuclear proliferation.Medicine, conflict, and survival · 2007Sidel VWDOI: 10.1080/13623690701596635
Modeling Fallout from Nuclear Weapon Detonations: Efficient Activity and Dose Calculation of Radionuclides and Their Progeny.Health physics · 2024van Dijk A, de Bode M, Kloosterman A et al.DOI: 10.1097/HP.0000000000001834
Public Health Decision Making in the Case of the Use of a Nuclear Weapon.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Długosz-Lisiecka MDOI: 10.3390/ijerph191912766
Nuclear Weapons Kill People Even When Not Used.American journal of public health · 2024Samet JMDOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2024.307829
Ending nuclear weapons, before they end us.La Tunisie medicale · 2025Abbasi K, Ali P, Barbour V et al.DOI: 10.62438/tunismed.v103i6.6095
Attending to the threat of nuclear weapons.Lancet (London, England) · 2021The LancetDOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)01792-X

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Wikidata facts

Image: Nagasakibomb.jpg

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Commons category: Nuclear weapons
Commons gallery: Nuclear weapons

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Article

A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either nuclear fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and nuclear fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb types release large quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. Nine sovereign states are believed to possess nuclear weapons as of 2026: the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel.

The majority of nuclear weapons have energy yields between 100 and 1,000 kilotons of TNT. Yields in the low kilotons can destroy cities. The effects of nuclear weapons include extreme blast damage, heat, ionizing radiation, and firestorms, followed by radioactive nuclear fallout, an electromagnetic pulse, radar blackout, and acute or chronic radiation syndrome in humans and animals. Hundreds of nuclear explosions would likely cause nuclear winter and nuclear famine.