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Re: Why big ships are too good...

From: b.s.murray@n... (Stuart Murray)
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 05:35:40 -0500
Subject: Re: Why big ships are too good...

>Samuel Penn wrote:
>> = According to the FAQ, EMP is generated by the asymmetric absorption
>> = of instantaneous gamma rays produced by the explosion. Mid-altitude
>> = bursts don't produce much EMP, because the gamma rays are absorbed
>> = fairly uniformly. Low altitude and high altitude bursts do.
>>
>> I would think space would absorb gamma rays pretty damn uniformly.
>> Anyway, the FAQ goes on to say:
>
>Space does; the body of the ship is an entirely different matter.  I
>wouldn't want to be a crewmember on a ship hit by an EMP missile.  Not
>only would the Compton effect from the high-speed gamma cascading
>through the metallic walls of the ship fry the electronics in a /much/
>shorter distance than in an airburst, but my body wouldn't feel too
>cheery after taking a cascade-group of alpha.	Ouch.
>
Gamma absorbed ?.   Gamma particles can travel through 30 feet of
concrete,
the reason why gamma has little effect on us is we just aren't dense
(though some would argue I am :) ) enough to stop many gammas, 
radiation
only affects the body when it hits something,  such as DNA,  bone etc.

Alpha patticles would not pass through a ship's hull (alpha is stopped
by a
sheet of paper),  only high energy beta and gamma would pass through the
hull (where you would then see Bremstrahlung effect - just as nasty but
slightly different thing.)

Stuart.

Stuart Murray

The Department of Surgery
The Medical School
The University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
NE2 4HH
U.K.

ph. (44) 191 222 7076
fax. (44) 191 222 8514

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