white hot fireball
© UnknownWhite-hot fireball from non-nuclear hydrogen bomb
The weapon generates a white-hot fireball that lasts 15 times longer than TNT's fleeting flash.

Chinese researchers have successfully detonated a hydrogen-based explosive device in a controlled field test, triggering devastating chemical chain reactions without using any nuclear materials, according to a study published last month.

The 2kg (4.4lbs) bomb generated a fireball exceeding 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,832 degrees Fahrenheit) for more than two seconds - 15 times longer than equivalent TNT blasts - without using any nuclear materials, it said.

Developed by the China State Shipbuilding Corporation's (CSSC) 705 Research Institute, a key player in underwater weapon systems, the device uses a magnesium-based solid-state hydrogen storage material.

This material - a silvery powder known as magnesium hydride - stores considerably more hydrogen than a pressurised tank. It was originally developed to bring the gas to off-grid areas, where it could power fuel cells for clean electricity and heat.

When activated by conventional explosives, the magnesium hydride underwent rapid thermal decomposition, releasing hydrogen gas that ignited into a sustained inferno, the researchers said in a peer-reviewed paper published in the Chinese-language Journal of Projectiles, Rockets, Missiles and Guidance.

The team, led by CSSC research scientist Wang Xuefeng, said:
"Hydrogen gas explosions ignite with minimal ignition energy, have a broad explosion range, and unleash flames that race outward rapidly while spreading widely.

"This combination allows precise control over blast intensity, easily achieving uniform destruction of targets across vast areas."
The hydrogen bomb can cause extended thermal damage because the white-hot fireball it produces - sufficient to melt aluminium alloys - lasts much longer than TNT's fleeting 0.12-second flash, according to the paper.