Re: [GZG] A Heavy Missile Question

david smith wrote:
> A nuclear weapon in space has exactly two ways to destroy a target:
soft 
> X-rays and neutrons.
	
	The best figures I've manage to find suggest that a
	conventional nuclear warhead converts its destructive
	energy into 80% soft x-rays, 10% gamma rays, and
	10% neurons.

	An enhanced radiation weapon AKA "neutron bomb"
	puts out 20% soft x-rays and 80% neutrons,
	but these are best guesses.  The US military
	is very tight-lipped about such details.

	One kiloton produces about 4.18 x 10^12 joules
	of energy at ground zero.  If the distance
	between the target and ground zero is x meters,
	figure the surface area of a sphere with that
	radius (4 * pi * r^2) and divide the amount
	of joules by that to get joules per
	square meter irradiating the target.

	In Ronald Reagan's SDI program, they assumed
	that a flimsy Soviet missile could be mission
	killed by subjecting it to about 100 mega-joules
	per square meter.

	If my slide rule is not lying to me, a 400 kiloton
	warhead produces 360 kilotons of x-rays/gamma rays
	and 40 kilotons of neutrons.

	360 kilotons = 1.5 x 10^15 joules

	If the warhead goes off one kilometer away from
	a flimsy Soviet missile, the surface area of
	a sphere 1 klick in radius is about 1.26 x 10^7
	square meters.

	1.5 x 10^15 joules / 1.26 x 10^7 m^2
	= 1.19 x 10^8 joules/m^2
	= 119 mega-joules/m^2
	
	So a 400 kt missile at a range of one kilometer
	can barely scrag a flimsy Soviet missile.

	Nuke notes:
	http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3x.html#nuke

	Armor notes:
	http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3y.html#armor
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