Re: 100 megaton bombs atop Saturn V rockets

From: John Schilling (schillin_at_spock.usc.edu)
Date: 07/24/04 

Date: 23 Jul 2004 21:32:12 -0700

"Neil Gerace" <geracen@iinet.net.au> writes:

>"Carey Sublette" <careysub@earthling.net> wrote in message
>news:9c8Mc.12553$Qu5.1024@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net...
>> > the one that was
>> > going to be so powerful that it was expected to initiate fusion in the
>> > hydrogen of the sea water near it on detonation.

>> This is physically impossible.

>I believe you, but why? Is it because the hydrogen atoms are too far apart?

Mostly it is because the hydrogen atoms are the wrong type. 99.985% of
naturally-occuring hydrogen atoms consist of a single proton and a single
electron. This sort of hydrogen undergoes thermonuclear reactions very,
very, very slowly. Even at the temperatures and pressures found in the
core of the sun, it takes ten billion years or so for the reaction to
proceed to completion. Note, for example, the big bright thing in the
sky during daytime. Five billion years old and still going strong, no
sign of running out of fuel. That doesn't make for an explosion.

The remaining 0.015% of natural hydrogen is an isotope called deuterium,
one proton, one electron, and one neutron. This isotope will undergo
thermonuclear reactions much, much, much faster than the ordinary stuff.
And there's a third isotope, tritium (one proton, one electron, two
neutrons) which is even more eager to burn, especially with deuterium.
But it basically isn't found in nature.

Hydrogen bombs are made to work by, through herculian industrial effort,
concentrating that 0.015% deuterium into nearly pure form, and adding an
isotope of lithium which under the conditions of a nuclear explosion can
be transmuted to tritium (and helium, which we don't care about). So,
lots of the highly reactive sorts of hydrogen all in one place.

Sea water contains only a minute fraction of deuterium and essentially
no tritium, and is 99.998% inert matter that will only serve to soak up
whatever heat may be generated and so quench any reaction that tries too
get underway. 

-- 
*John Schilling                    * "Anything worth doing,         *
*Member:AIAA,NRA,ACLU,SAS,LP       *  is worth doing for money"     *
*Chief Scientist & General Partner *    -13th Rule of Acquisition   *
*White Elephant Research, LLC      * "There is no substitute        *
*schillin@spock.usc.edu            *  for success"                  *
*661-718-0955 or 661-275-6795      *    -58th Rule of Acquisition   *

Relevant Pages

  • Re: 100 megaton bombs atop Saturn V rockets
    ... The remaining 0.015% of natural hydrogen is an isotope called deuterium, ... one proton, one electron, and one neutron. ... thermonuclear reactions much, much, much faster than the ordinary stuff. ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: Heavy Protons & Life Without Hydrogen
    ... deuterium, ... rapidly decays into dineutrons. ... A deuteron is a bound state of a neutron and proton. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.science)
  • Re: 100 megaton bombs atop Saturn V rockets
    ... The reactions that power nuclear weapons are mediated by the nuclear strong ... The production rate of energy in the sun is much less than the ... Unless you have an energy producing system lasting eons ... Deuterium can marginally sustain thermonuclear combustion ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: 100 megaton bombs atop Saturn V rockets
    ... The reactions that power nuclear weapons are mediated by the nuclear strong ... The production rate of energy in the sun is much less than the ... Unless you have an energy producing system lasting eons ... Deuterium can marginally sustain thermonuclear combustion ...
    (sci.space.history)
  • Re: Balloon lifted wire antenna?
    ... the original poster did not clarify as to which isotope of hydrogen was ... identical atom that has a different number of NEUTRONS than others ... Detirium = One proton, one neutron, and one electron ...
    (rec.radio.amateur.antenna)