Are atomic bombs and nuclear warheads the same thing?
Wow. What a bunch of answers you got on that. The WW2 weapons (bombs) dropped on Japan were at the time called “atomic” bombs, but atomic weapons were later called nuclear weapons since the energy released actually comes from the fissioning (or even fusion in later weapons) of the nucleus of the atom. The use of nuclear was just a bit more accurate. Atomic and nuclear are used interchangeably by most people since most people are not nuclear physicists or engineers and, thus, not sensitive to the difference. Atomic bombs are nuclear weapons or nuclear bombs, but are not technically nuclear “warheads,” as already pointed out by others. The term “thermonuclear” refers to an advanced kind of nuclear weapon, basically one that manages to generate much of its energy from fusion rather than just fission. Those were initially called hydrogen bombs since the fusion effects involve isotopes of hydrogen. The thermo part is apparently derived from the use of the heat and other effects from fission
