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atomic bomb definition

☆ atomic bomb

an extremely destructive type of bomb, the power of which results from the immense quantity of energy suddenly released when a very rapid chain reaction of nuclear fission is set off by neutron bombardment in the atoms of a charge of plutonium (primarily Pu-239) or uranium (U-235): first used in warfare (1945) by the United States against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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