Re: Re:Nukes

> 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.

Ummm...

Little Known (would you believe Unclassified??)  Facts about Nuclear
Devices

1) If memory serves, something like 60% of the energy released by
fission
is in the form of X-rays. These then heat up the surrounding atmosphere
something chronic, and that's how you get the Fireball. Basically a few
hi-energy
photons get absorbed by atmospheric molecules that get all excited and
emit
lots of low-energy photons.
So atmosphere => just as much energy released, but it's in X-rays.

2) Why talk about Fission rather than Fusion? Most Thermonuclear devices
(and all the big ones) get the bulk of their energy from Fission. In a
typical
Teller-Ulam multistage device, the initiating Fission physics package
emits
lots of
X-rays (see above) and fissions a few percent of the mass of the Pu.
These
X-rays
then are used to "squeeze" a Deuterium/Tritium Hydride mix via a highly
X-ray-absorbent
tamper. This then releases more energy, but not vastly more than the
original initiator.
However, the energy comes out to a great extent in the form of Slow
Neutrons. These
then hit the 95% of the Pu in the initiator, and instead of 5% fission,
you
get 50% +.
Add a U-238 casing and you get even more. U-238 is also a great tamper
in
its own
right.

All this and more via http://www.fas.org/nuke/hew/index.html