way cool! maybe this would ignite Jupiter and turn it into a second Sun!
Hoagland is a complete idiot.
I went rounds with him over this and he can’t see his errors. LOL
Why are you posting this pseudoscience crap?
Do you know how a Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator works or is made? Apparently you and the author do not:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisotope_thermoelectric_generator
It’s a pretty complete entry.
About 2/3 of the way down the page is a brief comparison between an RTG and a fission pile:
“RTGs use a different process of heat generation from that used by nuclear power stations. Nuclear power stations generate power by a chain reaction in which the nuclear fission of an atom releases neutrons which cause other atoms to undergo fission. This allows the rapid reaction of large numbers of atoms, thereby producing large amounts of heat for electricity generation. However, if the reaction is not carefully controlled the number of atoms undergoing fission (and the heat production) can grow exponentially, very rapidly becoming hot enough to destroy the reactor.
Chain reactions do not occur inside RTGs, so such a nuclear meltdown is not possible. In fact, some RTGs are designed so that fission does not occur at all; rather, forms of radioactive decay which cannot trigger other radioactive decays are used instead. As a result, the fuel in an RTG is consumed much more slowly and much less power is produced.
There are no nuclear proliferation risks associated with plutonium-238 because it is unsuitable for making nuclear weapons. The major reason for this is that plutonium-238 undergoes spontaneous fission at a high rate and thus emits neutrons randomly, causing the chain reaction to start too early in the triggering process. This would cause a plutonium-238 bomb to “fizzle”, greatly reducing its reliability and power. Moreover, plutonium-238 is very hot; this would complicate the manufacturing process.”
It’s all about heat, not boom....
ping
This is a really old article.
Any input?
Too stupid to know its “Pu239” not 238.
This is either Wormhole Xtreme or Stargate kookiness.
People are living in slavery (literally in somalia), we have uncontained borders to our south allowing people who want to kill us, and we have to pay attention to a lunatic who does not know one iota of nuclear physics tell us that Jupiter has a fever caused by GWBush.
An atomic explosion on the order of the Fat Man wouldn’t (on its own) make any kind of obvious mark on the surface of Jupiter. Each of the SL-9 impacts exceeded the energy of Fat Man. But Hoaxland is always good for some laughs.