Posted on 01/05/2020 9:39:31 AM PST by beaversmom
What’s half a dozen megatons between friends?
Gives a person a great respect for the atom
Castle Bravo is what would result if a few cubic centimeters of the deep interior of the sun could be magically transported to a point on Earth’s surface.
That was the Ed Teller design. It was so big, the DoD called for a million+ pound thrust rocket engine to deliver it. That led to Von Braun's F1 engine, which led to the Moon landings. Take that, Commies.
US Army backpack/paratrooper little nukes intended for use tactically against Warsaw Pact. Everyone knows about the Davy Crockett small tripod nuke missile- same core weapon. These backpack ones were called Mark-54 SADMs, and developed by Sandia. Special Atomic Demolition Munition.
18’’ tall by maybe 12 or 14 cylinder with operator set timer (note: “Do not turn timer beyond 35 hours”- no reset button). Fit in a can inside a ballistic nylon case strapped/linked to a US Army paratrooper with HALO chute. So they insert para/glide to target (no gps back then), set the nuke (hard targets or widest dispersion against approaching mass troops) and depart the area— rapidly. Someone said, on the devices they were trained on-— it went “whirrrr, click” and the timer went “ding” like a toaster to zero (so, they inferred— “toast is ready, and it’s you”- it was a suicide mission if so tasked, and included, remove to a safe distance, and if device is being endangered- a rifle shot to a red steel plate target on the device would blow it, override the timer). Point being- even if one got away— the remaining populace
This, or something like it— should be, and, in view of “lost” former Soviet “backpacks” (that certainly were sold)— are out there somewhere. For our NEST teams- among the many things, to be concerned about crossing our Mex border. The various already discovered Pakis, cameroonian muslims, and many other possible— iranians without a doubt from Quds. Crazed 4th Century types, and the russian buddies obamaumao courted cash from— the “nuke deal”. Truly insane.
I hope we kept one of those back for the Mullahs . . .
My Dad took me and my brother down to Kailua beach on Oahu that morning to watch from over 2000 miles away. We saw the green-orange reflection in the sky. Awesome.
I love that stuff.
“Lithium-6, lithium-7, what’s tha difference??”
Umm, quite a bit, as it turned out....
Some of that footage (for certain the “triumphant mushroom cloud” scenes) is actually from the subsequent test of the Castle Romeo device, which was fired from a barge out in the lagoon, and subsequently turned into the Mark 17 bomb.
Hindsight's always 20/20, and it was the first H-bomb, ever. I think everyone should cut him some slack, not least because he was an avid patriot and anti-commie.
They believed Lithium 7 was just along for the ride as a neutral component, not aware Alpha particles would say differently. They added a natural mix of isotopes to get a sufficient amount of 6 for their needs. Both actually contributed neutrons to the jacket to drive the total yield higher than planned.
Third stage of the Russian device was inert material. Still sufficient to burn the paint off of the aircraft.
Ivy Mike was a multi-story building, but the first H-bomb.
Teller didn’t feel welcome in the test observation zone, so he monitored the blast by watching a seismometer in Cali.
Castle Bravo yielded three times what was expected.
Lithium 6 with Deuterium is the fusion fuel.
They did not expect the Lithium 7 isotope to react, the Lithium was not completely refined. Well it did. Lithium 7 hit with a fast neutron makes Lithium 6. Just slightly endothermic, about 1 MeV. A little dent when the whole reaction releases about 25 MeV.
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