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Re: Tactical Nukes Used in Yemen

Posted: Wed, 10 Jun 2015 22:54:00
by grumpyMSG
FiremanBob wrote:The neutron bomb was discussed publicly in the 1970s. I remember Jimmah Cahtuh saying he would not allow it to be produced. Even back then he was probably in the pocket of the jihadis and the Russians.
Thanks for catching the actual time period, I knew it even made the cover of Time or Newsweek or somewhere when I was a "Yute". It is nice to know I was off by a few years not decades...

Re: Tactical Nukes Used in Yemen

Posted: Thu, 11 Jun 2015 11:55:14
by Ironbear
AlanM wrote:
Ironbear wrote:Being an engineer, and not a physicist... I've never understood why a light nucleus is better at moderation than a heavy one. I would have expected denser materials to work better, but this is not the case.
Simple physics: It has to do with energy transfer during an elastic collision between two objects.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elastic_collision
Maximum energy transfer occurs when the masses involved are equal or nearly so.
Therefore, for a high energy neutron to lose that energy quickly it's more efficient for it to collide with particles of nearly the same mass
OK, this explanation makes perfect sense. I wasn't thinking in terms of elastic collisions, but of the nucleus absorbing the neutron.
AlanM wrote:In those links above you will find the definition of a "barn" which is defined as a unit of area equal to 10^−28 m² or 10^−24 cm².
So in physics circles if you can hit a barn at 100 yards you are a damn good shot.
What about "sheds"? ;-)