The exploding-bridgewire detonator is a type of detonator used to initiate the detonation reaction in explosive materials, similar to a blasting cap because it is fired using an electric current. EBWs
Trinity Gadget
Closeup of a detonator set. The EBW is the Y-shaped device with two wires coming in at angles along the surface. The larger round objects with two wires coming out perpendicular to the surface are diagnostic equipment.
Nuclear weapon design
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Nuclear weapons design means the physical, chemical, and engineering arrangements that cause the physics package of a nuclear weapon to detonate. There are three existing basic design types:
Exploding-bridgewire detonator
…fired each of the 32 explosive lens units. EBWs were developed as a means of detonating multiple explosive charges simultaneously, mainly for use in plutonium-based nuclear weapons in which a plutonium core (called a pit) is compressed very rapidly. This is achieved via conventional explosives placed uniformly around the pit. The…
The first nuclear explosive devices provided the basic building blocks of future weapons. Pictured is the Gadget device being prepared for the Trinity nuclear test.
Macroscopic shell of neptunium-237
Microscopic quantity of americium
Bassoon, the prototype for a 9.3-megaton clean bomb or a 25-megaton dirty bomb. Dirty version shown here, before its 1956 test. The two attachments on the left are light pipes; see below for elaboration.