If by "atomic bomb" you mean a "fission bomb", then a hydrogen bomb, which is a "fusion bomb" generally has greater yield, meaning that it is equivalent to more tons of TNT than a fission bomb.
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I will give you the answer to this as my understanding, a Senior in High School.
An atomic bomb uses the nuclear decay process of Uranium, a neutron emission, to trigger a chain reaction throughout the bomb to release energy. A Hydrogen bomb uses fusion and Einstein's E=mc^2 to create energy.
When a chunk of Uranium undergoes a decay process, a neutron is shot out of the atom. This neutron his another atom of Uranium and the new atom ejects a second neutron. Now there are two neutrons in the chunk flying around. Those two will hit two more, those four hit four more, those eight hit eight more and the cycle goes on. This creates energy because the atoms become more stable when they are less massive and within the stability range of the Uranium atom. The amount of energy created is dependent on how much Uranium is in the sample, and how quickly the reaction goes to completion.
In a Hydrogen bomb, Hydrogen undergoes nuclear fusion of a grand scale to make a larger element, most probably Helium. In Helium, there are 2 protons so:
H + H --> He + energy
Now, the strange thing is that when this happens, there is some mass that is essentially destroyed. It simply disappears as energy in the transition. The mass of Helium does not equal the mass of two Hydrogens. This is where E=mc^2 comes in. E is energy, m is the mass defect or how much mass has been "annihilated," and c is the speed of light in a vacuum, a constant that is 3.00E8. Let's assume that 1.00E-35 kilograms of mass were lost in this reaction. The true value is listed in a table in my Chemistry binder at school, so I apologize for having to use a hypothetical scenario for your question, but I digress. Let's put it into the equation:
An atomic bomb uses the nuclear decay process of Uranium, a neutron emission, to trigger a chain reaction throughout the bomb to release energy. A Hydrogen bomb uses fusion and Einstein's E=mc^2 to create energy.
When a chunk of Uranium undergoes a decay process, a neutron is shot out of the atom. This neutron his another atom of Uranium and the new atom ejects a second neutron. Now there are two neutrons in the chunk flying around. Those two will hit two more, those four hit four more, those eight hit eight more and the cycle goes on. This creates energy because the atoms become more stable when they are less massive and within the stability range of the Uranium atom. The amount of energy created is dependent on how much Uranium is in the sample, and how quickly the reaction goes to completion.
In a Hydrogen bomb, Hydrogen undergoes nuclear fusion of a grand scale to make a larger element, most probably Helium. In Helium, there are 2 protons so:
H + H --> He + energy
Now, the strange thing is that when this happens, there is some mass that is essentially destroyed. It simply disappears as energy in the transition. The mass of Helium does not equal the mass of two Hydrogens. This is where E=mc^2 comes in. E is energy, m is the mass defect or how much mass has been "annihilated," and c is the speed of light in a vacuum, a constant that is 3.00E8. Let's assume that 1.00E-35 kilograms of mass were lost in this reaction. The true value is listed in a table in my Chemistry binder at school, so I apologize for having to use a hypothetical scenario for your question, but I digress. Let's put it into the equation:
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