From: khijol!erc@apple.com (Ed Carp [Sysadmin])
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 94 19:20:47 PDT
To: perry@imsi.com
Subject: Re: Nuclear Weapons Material
In-Reply-To: <9408231318.AA01904@snark.imsi.com>
Message-ID: <m0qd7eW-0004EcC@khijol.uucp>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text


> Mark Terka says:
> > Not to mention the fact that without tritium, the "trigger" for nuclear
> > weapons (and extremely expensive and rare at $ 100m a gram) all you have
> > is a radioactive paperweight.
> 
> This is sheer ignorance. First of all, tritium is not nearly that
> expensive. Its quite cheap, in fact, and can be manufactured without
> that much trouble. Second of all, tritium is not a necessary component
> of non-thermonuclear (i.e. hydrogen) bombs. Third, tritium isn't a
> "trigger". Lastly, an ordinary A-bomb is just a way to bring together
> a critical mass of a fissionable material, like U-235 or Plutonium.
> Once a critical mass is in one place the chain reaction will handle
> the rest.

Quite true.  All you really need for a fission bomb is a casing to hold 
everything together, 2.2 kilos (or so) of U-235 (or a sufficient quantity 
of critical mass other stuff <grin>), and something that will hold it 
together long enough for it to fission.

And no, Taylor, holding them together in your hands won't work 
(unfortunately)... hehehe :)

"Hey, Bill?  Hold these two shiny pieces of metal in your hands and 
clap!  Oh, wait about an hour while I get a safe distance away..." :)

Exotic way to commit suicide, methinks.  Kiddies, don't try this at home 
- leave this to the professional idiots... ;)

Kinda reminds me of Congress... ;)
-- 
Ed Carp, N7EKG    			Ed.Carp@linux.org, ecarp@netcom.com
Finger ecarp@netcom.com for PGP 2.5 public key		an88744@anon.penet.fi
If you want magic, let go of your armor.  Magic is so much stronger than
steel!        -- Richard Bach, "The Bridge Across Forever"