The Mark 10 nuclear bomb was a proposed American
nuclear bomb
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...
based on the earlier
Mark 8 nuclear bomb
The Mark 8 nuclear bomb was an American nuclear bomb, designed in the late 1940s and early 1950s, which was in service from 1952 to 1957.
Description
The Mark 8 was a gun-type nuclear bomb, which rapidly assembles several critical masse ...
design. The Mark 10, like the Mark 8, is a
Gun-type nuclear weapon, which rapidly assembles several
critical mass
In nuclear engineering, a critical mass is the smallest amount of fissile material needed for a sustained nuclear chain reaction. The critical mass of a fissionable material depends upon its nuclear properties (specifically, its nuclear fi ...
es of fissile nuclear material by firing a fissile projectile or "bullet" over a fissile "target", using a system which closely resembles a medium-sized cannon barrel and propellant.
The Mark 10 was intended to be a general purpose airburst nuclear weapon, unlike the Mark 8 which was intended to penetrate into the ground as a
Nuclear bunker buster
A nuclear bunker buster, also known as an earth-penetrating weapon (EPW), is the nuclear equivalent of the conventional bunker buster. The non-nuclear component of the weapon is designed to penetrate soil, rock, or concrete to deliver a nuclea ...
. It was nicknamed the "Airburst Elsie"; the Mark 8 had been nicknamed the LC or Light Casing bomb, which was then expanded to "Elsie." The bomb was in diameter and weighed . It had a design yield of 12 to 15
kiloton
TNT equivalent is a convention for expressing energy, typically used to describe the energy released in an explosion. The is a unit of energy defined by that convention to be , which is the approximate energy released in the detonation of a ...
s.
The Mark 10 design was cancelled in 1952, replaced by the implosion-type
Mark 12
Mark 12 is the twelfth chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It continues Jesus' teaching in the Temple in Jerusalem, and contains the parable of the Wicked Husbandmen, Jesus' argument with the Pharisees and ...
which was lighter and used considerably less fissile material.
See also
*
List of nuclear weapons
*
Mark 1 Little Boy nuclear bomb
*
Mark 8 nuclear bomb
The Mark 8 nuclear bomb was an American nuclear bomb, designed in the late 1940s and early 1950s, which was in service from 1952 to 1957.
Description
The Mark 8 was a gun-type nuclear bomb, which rapidly assembles several critical masse ...
External links
Allbombs.htmllist of all US nuclear warheads a
nuclearweaponarchive.org*
{{United States nuclear devices
Cold War aerial bombs of the United States
Gun-type nuclear bombs
Nuclear bombs of the United States