<P> A thermobaric bomb is a type of explosive that utilizes oxygen from the surrounding air to generate an intense, high - temperature explosion, and in practice the blast wave typically produced by such a weapon is of a significantly longer duration than that produced by a conventional condensed explosive . The fuel - air bomb is one of the best - known types of thermobaric weapons . </P> <P> Nuclear fission type atomic bombs utilize the energy present in very heavy atomic nuclei, such as U-235 or Pu - 239 . In order to release this energy rapidly, a certain amount of the fissile material must be very rapidly consolidated while being exposed to a neutron source . If consolidation occurs slowly, repulsive forces drive the material apart before a significant explosion can occur . Under the right circumstances, rapid consolidation can provoke a chain reaction that can proliferate and intensify by many orders of magnitude within microseconds . The energy released by a nuclear fission bomb may be tens of thousands of times greater than a chemical bomb of the same mass . </P> <P> Thermonuclear bomb is a type of nuclear bomb that releases energy through the fusion of the light atomic nuclei of deuterium and tritium . With this type of bomb, a thermonuclear detonation is triggered by the detonation of a fission type nuclear bomb contained within a material containing high concentrations of deuterium and tritium . Weapon yield is typically increased with a tamper that increases the duration and intensity of the reaction through inertial confinement and neutron reflection . Nuclear fusion bombs can have arbitrarily high yields making them hundreds or thousands of times more powerful than nuclear fission . </P> <P> Antimatter bomb can theoretically be constructed but antimatter is very costly to produce and hard to safely store . </P>

When were explosives first used and how do they work