[CT] war

[Dan Moran]

Anyone object to my forwarding this stuff to Ringo? (I can't imagine,
but I figure I'll be nice & ask anyway.)

> -----Original Message-----
> From: continuing-time-admin@ralf.org [mailto:continuing-time-
> admin@ralf.org] On Behalf Of Brad Daniels
> Sent: Friday, June 13, 2003 12:43 PM
> To: 'continuing-time@ralf.org'
> Subject: RE: [CT] war
> 
> 
> 
> > From: Brad Daniels [mailto:Brad.Daniels@NetIQ.com]
> ....
> > I've gotta
> > wonder about fallout issues from having over 1000 conventional
nuclear
> > weapons destroyed in flight over populated areas, even if only a few
> > actually get to detonate...
> 
> Another issue I just thought of:  I know nuclear weapons will not
detonate
> as a result of physical impact or conventional explosions, but in
Hell's
> Faire, the things were being hit by missiles ("HVMs") accelerated to
> significant fractions of the speed of light.  I'd think an impact at
that
> level of energy would tend to trigger a nuclear explosion if it hit
the
> fissile core, even if the normal detonator didn't fire.
> 
> Even if the HVM missed the core, the resulting explosion would be far
> beyond
> anything the system would be designed for, because of the rate of
> propagation of the explosion as the HVM hit the rocket fuel.  The
strength
> of an explosion is in large part a function of how quickly the
explosive
> propagates through the explosive, and an HVM would make a substantial
> proportion of the rocket fuel explode pretty much simultaneously.  The
> force
> of the explosion would far exceed anything you could normally achieve
with
> chemical explosives.
> 
> If that doesn't make sense, think of some real-world examples:
> 
> Take some gasoline and fertilizer to make your standard farming
explosive.
> Put it in a bucket.  Shoot the bucket from a safe distance using a
> large-caliber pistol.  Odds are, you won't get an explosion, or if you
do,
> it won't be a terribly big one.
> 
> Next, take an identical bucket of gas/fertilizer mix, and prime it
with
> some
> TNT.  You'll get an explosion much bigger than you'd get from shooting
the
> bucket and blowing up a stick of TNT separately.  That's because the
shock
> wave from the TNT travels quickly through the gas/fertilizer mix,
causing
> it
> all to ignite in a short period of time, thus creating a bigger
explosion.
> 
> Now take that same bucket of gas and fertilizer, and prime it with
some
> astrolite.  Why do I mention astrolite?  Funny you should ask:
> 
> I knew a guy who used to be a professional chemist.  He liked to blow
> things
> up.  Call him Bill.
> 
> One time, Bill and one of his buddies (we'll call his buddy "Ted")
scammed
> a
> chemical company into selling them some anhydrous hydrazine.  (Ted was
> also
> a pyromaniacial chemist, in case you were wondering).  Anhydrous
hydrazine
> is normally used only for manufacturing explosives or rocket fuel, and
> neither worked for a munitions factory or satellite launching company,
so
> they Ted spun a story about using the stuff for improving paint bonds
> through rapid oxidation reactions.  The chemical salespeople were
thrilled
> at the possibility of an industrial application of their wares, and
> quickly
> sent along a couple of kilos of the stuff.
> 
> Anhydrous hydrazine is an important component in the manufacture of
some
> explosives, as I have mentioned.  Astrolite is one such explosive.  It
> was,
> at the time, the most powerful chemical explosive known to man.
> 
> Anyway, Bill and Ted made a batch of astrolite, then the two of them
had
> some fun blowing things up with small quantities of the stuff out at
Ted's
> father's farm.  Ted's father put up with the noise for a while, then
told
> them that as long as they were going to blow things up, they should be
> useful and blow up a boulder that was always in his way out by one of
the
> fields.
> 
> Now, this boulder was a good 15 feet across, and Ted wasn't sure he
had
> enough astrolite left to do the job (besides which, he didn't want to
> waste
> so much to blow up just one thing, even if it were a really big
thing), so
> he made himself a bucket of gas and fertilizer, and set up the
astrolite
> as
> a primer.
> 
> This wasn't the first time Ted had blow up a boulder, so he knew about
how
> much gas/fertilizer mix to use when blowing up a boulder of that size.
He
> forgot one little thing, though.  The previous times he'd blown up a
> boulder
> in this way, he'd been using dynamite to prime the explosion, and
> astrolite
> is a bit more energetic, to say the least.
> 
> When they set off that astrolite, the shock wave propagated through
the
> gas/fertilizer mix many times faster than normal.  I don't have exact
> figures for the power of the explosion, but the result was that
> afterwards,
> there was no sign at all of the boulder (or a nearby tree, for that
> matter),
> and there was a 30-foot crater left in the ground.
> 
> The explosion broke several windows back at the farm house, and I
couldn't
> tell you how far away it could be heard, but I will say that late that
> day,
> a group of scientists from a nearby university's department of geology
> came
> by to investigate an anomalous seismic event.  Ted's father chased
them
> away, but it was a bit tense for a while...
> 
> Now imagine blowing up a missile full of rocket fuel with a projectile
> traveling at .2c (or whatever the HVMs are supposed to go at) in close
> proximity to a nuclear warhead.  Damn big explosion, I'd expect.
> 
> - Brad
> 
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