Nuclear Weapons Material

[Mikolaj Habryn]

> 
> > the atomic weapon that sets off the fusion reaction.)
> 
> I don't understand your point.  The earliest devices used a pie shape 
> with a wedge cut out.  The actual geometry is rather unimportant to 
> getting a fission reaction - but it *is* important if you want to 
> maximize your yield.
> -- 

	Wrong. If you are using a uranium fuelled bomb, then you are
right. As long as you thump together two barely sub-critical masses, it
will go boom. However, if you try this with plutonium, it will fizzle.
In the time that it takes for a standard gun type triggering mechanism
to operate, the plutonium will become critical, and then release most of
it's energy harmlessly, instead of going super-critical. This is the
reason for using fast-triggering bomb geometries.

-- 
*       *       Mikolaj J. Habryn
                dichro at tartarus.uwa.edu.au
    *           "I'm just another sniper on the information super-highway."
                PGP Public key available by finger
    *           #include <standard-disclaimer.h>