The first (albeit not "true") Soviet Hydrogen ("Super") Test, dubbed Joe 4

Joe 4 (USSR version: RDS-4 (Reaktivnyi Dvigatel Stalina; Stalin's Rocket Engine)) was an American nickname for the first Soviet test of a thermonuclear weapon and was on August 12, 1953. It was not a "true" hydrogen bomb—it was similar to a "boosted" fission bomb rather than a multi-stage, megaton-range fusion weapon. It utilized a scheme in which fission and fusion fuel were "layered", a design known as the Sloika ((Ru: Слойка) named after a type of layer cake) model in the Soviet Union. A similar design was earlier theorized, but never tested, in the USA as the "Alarm Clock". Joe 4, Soviet atomic test File links The following pages link to this file: Soviet atomic bomb project Military history of the Soviet Union Joe 4 ... Joe 4, Soviet atomic test File links The following pages link to this file: Soviet atomic bomb project Military history of the Soviet Union Joe 4 ... State motto (Russian): Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! (Transliterated: Proletarii vsekh stran, soedinyaytes!) (Translated: Workers of the world, unite!) Capital Moscow Official language None; Russian (de facto) Government Federation of Soviet republics Area  - Total  - % water 1st before collapse 22,402,200 km² Approx. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945 lifted nuclear fallout some 18 km (60,000 feet) above the epicenter. ... August 12 is the 224th day of the year (225th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1953 calendar). ... A megaton or megatonne is a unit of mass equal to 1,000,000 metric tons, i. ... Russian (Russian: русский язык, russkiy yazyk, ) is the most widely spoken language of Eurasia and the most widespread of the Slavic languages. ... Layer Cake is a 2004 British gangster thriller, directed by Matthew Vaughn. ...

Its power was roughly equivalent to 400 kilotons of TNT. The Soviet physicist Yuli Khariton estimated that Joe 4's yield was 15% to 20% fusion, the rest fission boosted by the fast neutrons released in the fusion. Being a single-stage weapon, though, it was not capable of being scaled up indefinitely like "true" hydrogen bombs (see Teller-Ulam design for more details on the distinctions between fusion weapons). A megaton or megatonne is a unit of mass equal to 1,000,000 metric tons, i. ... Trinitrotoluene (TNT, or Trotyl) is a pale yellow crystalline aromatic hydrocarbon compound that melts at 354 K (178 Â°F, 81 °C). ... Julii Borisovich Khariton (Ю́лий Бори́сович Харито́н, February 27, 1904 - December 18, 1996) was a Soviet physicist working in the field of atomic energy. ... The deuterium-tritium (D-T) fusion reaction is considered the most promising for producing fusion power. ... An induced nuclear fission event. ... A fast neutron is a free neutron with a kinetic energy level close to 1 MeV (10 TJ/kg, hence a speed of 14,000 km/s. ... The basics of the Teller-Ulam configuration: a fission bomb uses radiation to compress and heat a separate section of fusion fuel. ...

Despite its inability to be scaled into the megaton range, the detonation was used by Soviet diplomats as leverage. The Soviets claimed that they too had a hydrogen bomb, but unlike the United States' first thermonuclear weapon, theirs was deployable (i.e. could be dropped from a bomber). Despite this claim, U.S. experts disputed its standing as a "true" hydrogen bomb. The United States did not develop a deployable version of its hydrogen bomb until 1954. The Sloika model was never widely deployed. 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The first Soviet test of a "true" hydrogen bomb was on November 22, 1955, and was dubbed RDS-37 by the Soviets. All were at Semipalatinsk Test Site, Kazakhstan. November 22 is the 326th day (327th on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... RDS-37 was a Soviet name for their first nuclear test of a true hydrogen bomb. ... The 18,000 km 2 expanse of the Semipalatinsk Test Site (indicated in red), an area the size of Wales. ...

See also:

• Joe 1
• RDS-37
• Soviet atomic bomb project
• Ivy Mike
• Castle Bravo

External links http://gawain. ... RDS-37 was a Soviet name for their first nuclear test of a true hydrogen bomb. ... Andrei Sakharov (left) with Igor Kurchatov (right) The Soviet project to develop an atomic bomb began during World War II in the Soviet Union. ... The mushroom cloud from the Mike shot. ... A black and white photograph of the Castle Bravo mushroom cloud. ...

External links

• Soviet and Nuclear Weapons History

References

• David Holloway, Stalin and the Bomb: The Soviet Union and Atomic Energy 1939-1956 (Yale University Press, 1995), ISBN 0300066643
• Alexei Kojevnikov, Stalin's Great Science: The Times and Adventures of Soviet Physicists (Imperial College Press, 2004), ISBN 1860944205
• Richard Rhodes, Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb (Simon and Schuster, 1995), ISBN 068480400X