Today we’re making nuclear bombs in just three, easy, legal* steps.

(For legal reasons, this is all for informational purposes, we don’t condone or endorse the creation of nuclear weapons or illegal bombs, - love, Ashton).

Step One: You need powerful conventional explosives or a gun-type assembly.

The gun-type assembly method primarily uses a conventional explosive propellant to rapidly fire a subcritical piece of uranium-235 into another subcritical piece.

Mechanism: A high-explosive charge (acting as a propellant, similar to a cannon) accelerates a uranium-235 "bullet" down a barrel to quickly collide with a uranium-235 "target."

Purpose of Explosive: The explosive is used for the propulsion to bring the two pieces together, not for compression of the metal itself. The resulting combined mass is supercritical and  ...