Nuclear Weapons Material

[Ed Carp [Sysadmin]]

> Mark Terka says:
> > Not to mention the fact that without tritium, the "trigger" for nuclear
> > weapons (and extremely expensive and rare at $ 100m a gram) all you have
> > is a radioactive paperweight.
> 
> This is sheer ignorance. First of all, tritium is not nearly that
> expensive. Its quite cheap, in fact, and can be manufactured without
> that much trouble. Second of all, tritium is not a necessary component
> of non-thermonuclear (i.e. hydrogen) bombs. Third, tritium isn't a
> "trigger". Lastly, an ordinary A-bomb is just a way to bring together
> a critical mass of a fissionable material, like U-235 or Plutonium.
> Once a critical mass is in one place the chain reaction will handle
> the rest.

Quite true.  All you really need for a fission bomb is a casing to hold 
everything together, 2.2 kilos (or so) of U-235 (or a sufficient quantity 
of critical mass other stuff <grin>), and something that will hold it 
together long enough for it to fission.

And no, Taylor, holding them together in your hands won't work 
(unfortunately)... hehehe :)

"Hey, Bill?  Hold these two shiny pieces of metal in your hands and 
clap!  Oh, wait about an hour while I get a safe distance away..." :)

Exotic way to commit suicide, methinks.  Kiddies, don't try this at home 
- leave this to the professional idiots... ;)

Kinda reminds me of Congress... ;)
-- 
Ed Carp, N7EKG    			Ed.Carp at linux.org, ecarp at netcom.com
Finger ecarp at netcom.com for PGP 2.5 public key		an88744 at anon.penet.fi
If you want magic, let go of your armor.  Magic is so much stronger than
steel!        -- Richard Bach, "The Bridge Across Forever"