Re: Re:Nukes

At 12:57  13/03/01 +0000, BIF wrote:
>I thought the shock wave was formed from the vaporised bomb mass
traveling
>at relativistic velocities due to the energy imparted from the nuclear
>explosion. What makes nukes so effective in atmosphere is the shock
wave
>formed from pumping so much energy into the air in such a small time
frame.
>The actual bomb it`self doesn`t do that much dammage (unless you drop
it on
>yourself <G>), it`s the supersonic shockwave, and the thermal pulse
released
>by the conversion of matter to energy inside the nuclear reaction. A
space
>ship should be well protected from energised particals at relativistic
>speed, or they could never fly during a solar storm (which very strong
>magnetic feilds (as postulated for sheilds) would deflect) or fly at
high
>sublight speeds. Of course, there is a big difference between solar
>wind/intersteelar particals and the energy of a nuke going off at close
>quarters (in steelar terms, anyway).
>
>Probably incorect, but sounds right from what I`ve picked up over the
years.

Still haven't found the reference but I'll keep looking.

Derek

Derek Fulton
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