Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Intriguing photo.

SM2 - 21-4-2014 at 12:53

Photo may very well have been taken in evening. Have to do more research. So it's US's largest thermonuclear device ever detonated at or above sea level. May be largest US test yield ever. Plus it is the first true H-Bomb in modern history, AFAIK. Precursors to this "shrimp" device used Liquified D as a booster, along with tritium. Bravo was a very dirty bomb due to it's enormous fissible yield, but the 1st one using LiD powder[img]d:\Castle Bravo post fissile early fusion[/img] as the fusion fuel. I think the tritium was maybe made in situe.

Castle Bravo post fissile early fusion_small.jpg - 82kB

Dany - 21-4-2014 at 13:01

What is the purpose of this post?

Dany.

BlackDragon2712 - 21-4-2014 at 13:11

lol what photo?

Pretty Picture

SM2 - 21-4-2014 at 13:28


d
.
Castle Bravo post fissile early fusion_small.jpg - 188kB

Maybe I need to split up my photos into smaller chunks to have them re-constituted. Seems like there is plenty more room in the image window, to accommodate a larger photo. I certainly compressed it enough, so was using less than half the BW allotted originally. Do I need to host the photos elsewhere to allow the pixels to be posted larger in SM image window? Could definitely use a little constructive help here.

Castle Bravo post fissile early fusion_small.jpg - 82kB

[Edited on 21-4-2014 by SM2]

Bert - 21-4-2014 at 14:31

Scary shit, that picture.

It's significant historical event. And there WAS around a ton of chemical explosives/energetic materials in the primary- Plus god knows how much Lithium 6 & 7 Deuteride & various other fissionables in the physics package.

Castle Bravo - Shrimp device

We didn't know any better then. No excuses now-

Still, I'm sending it to "Miscellaneous". Thanks for posting this, though-

[Edited on 21-4-2014 by Bert]

IrC - 21-4-2014 at 15:55

Years ago I read an account where Navy ships were too close to a test due to failure to include creation of Li isotopes which doubled the yield. The ships were being used to both record the event, and test their ability to withstand nearby detonations. Did not work out so well. I don't remember the details well enough to be positive but I think it was this test:

March 1, 1954 – Bikini Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands (then Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands) – Nuclear test accident

"During the Castle Bravo test of the first deployable hydrogen bomb, a miscalculation resulted in the explosion being over twice as large as predicted, with a total explosive force of 15 megatons of TNT (63 PJ). Of the total yield, 10 Mt (42 PJ) were from fission of the natural uranium tamper, but those fission reactions were quite dirty, producing a large amount of fallout. Combined with the much larger than expected yield and an unanticipated wind shift radioactive fallout was spread eastward onto the inhabited Rongelap and Rongerik Atolls. These islands were not evacuated before the explosion due to the financial cost involved, but many of the Marshall Islands natives have since suffered from radiation burns and radioactive dusting and also similar fates as the Japanese fishermen and have received little if any compensation from the federal government[citation needed]. A Japanese fishing boat, Daigo Fukuryu Maru/Lucky Dragon, also came into contact with the fallout, which caused many of the crew to take ill with one fatality. The test resulted in an international uproar and reignited Japanese concerns about radiation, especially with regard to the possible contamination of fish. Personal accounts of the Rongelap people can be seen in the documentary Children of Armageddon."

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_nuclear_accide...

neptunium - 21-4-2014 at 17:04

" These islands were not evacuated before the explosion due to the financial cost involved"

but building a nuclear weapon and ship it to the middle of the pacific is dirt cheap right? ha the 50's!!!!!

Bert - 21-4-2014 at 18:45

We did a lot of things back then that appear totally insane now, in hindsight.

For instance, do you realize that as far as release of radioactive fallout during above ground testing is concerned, we've essentially had a pretty damn large nuclear war on this planet?

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WAnqRQg-W0k

Sane people would not use nuclear weapons on a planet they intended to live on?

Draw your own conclusions-

SM2 - 22-4-2014 at 07:44

SNIP......." and reignited Japanese concerns about radiation, with regard to the possible contamination of fish...."SNIP

Oh the future irony. Japan, Fukashima, Fish.