Film of largest nuclear bomb declassified
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The device had no conceivable military value, but what it did do was to demonstrate the the West that the 'Sloika' design was viable and weaponized. The layer cake which Sakharov and Ginzburg instigated had no theoretical upper limit on yield.
The concern over the test, and the uncertainty over the effects convinced the bomb technicians to remove part of the uranium tamper to detune the device to approximately half its design yield of 100 Mt.
As it was, the shockwave went round the World seven times, and the blast was visible from over 600 miles away.
By the time it exploded though, it marked the beginning of the end for large weapons. The fourth power law means the less accurate your weapon, the massively bigger it has to be to achieve the necessary military objective. Hence smaller, accurate weapons were paradoxically more effective, and the more of them you could launch on a single bus. You just needed to invent GPS.
So they did.
The concern over the test, and the uncertainty over the effects convinced the bomb technicians to remove part of the uranium tamper to detune the device to approximately half its design yield of 100 Mt.
As it was, the shockwave went round the World seven times, and the blast was visible from over 600 miles away.
By the time it exploded though, it marked the beginning of the end for large weapons. The fourth power law means the less accurate your weapon, the massively bigger it has to be to achieve the necessary military objective. Hence smaller, accurate weapons were paradoxically more effective, and the more of them you could launch on a single bus. You just needed to invent GPS.
So they did.
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I've heard it said that the Tsar Bomba was created with the intention of targeting Mount Cheyenne and NORAD, or just to detonate over the North Atlantic to create a huge EMP. Likely?
Plus the small matter that the Russian boffins understood completely - an insanely big bomb on roughly spherical planet tends to push most of its energy towards space.
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You’d never hang it under a Jag.
The Imperial Japanese built a heavy water plant in 1936 . How different Pearl Harbour would look if they had of been successful in building a device.
If they had of built a device and a means of delivery the outcomes would have been different.
The research done by them in Camp 731 was interesting from a historical point of view . Technically not very highly advanced , but an interesting inquiry into human indifference to pain and suffering in the search for new weapons .
If they had of built a device and a means of delivery the outcomes would have been different.
The research done by them in Camp 731 was interesting from a historical point of view . Technically not very highly advanced , but an interesting inquiry into human indifference to pain and suffering in the search for new weapons .
At least, that's what we were taught in the Royal Observer Corps where we had to report the fireballs as 'touching' or 'clear' from our GZI photos.
"The Imperial Japanese built a heavy water plant in 1936 . How different Pearl Harbour would look if they had of been successful in building a device."
What people forget is the ENORMOUS amount of engineering and scientific effort that was required in the US to actually build the damn things in the first place - the idea is pretty simple but oh the details. No-one else could have done it - and certainly not Japan
What people forget is the ENORMOUS amount of engineering and scientific effort that was required in the US to actually build the damn things in the first place - the idea is pretty simple but oh the details. No-one else could have done it - and certainly not Japan
Who ? Google it . Those guys in the Hugo Boss uniforms did make several different types of big bangs . Several failures , a big dirty one and several clean big bangs in Poland . Old news really was in the papers last year and on the History Channel as well . A bigger bang than the Recent Thermobaric devices which would suggest a clean burning fuel or a failure to ignite the dirty nuclear fuel .
Afaik, Speer allocated enough resources to Heisenberg to perform basic research experiments, but nothing like the scale of support that could generate a bomb. There was no shortage of uranium, but a mistake in measuring the utility of graphite to serve as a moderator meant the Germans were forced to try for a heavy water moderated reactor, which never came about. Other claims of a separate SS run program producing test explosions are undocumented and unverified.
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Ckean vs. Dirty
Scenario ... load on unattributable ship, sail to San Francisco, detonate and contaminate large swathes if US West Ciast with plume heading East on orvailing wind. No need to worry about Decontam, as invasion of USA is not in the script.
Of course, retaliation is a different question ... but whodunnit? USSR or PRC?
Of course, retaliation is a different question ... but whodunnit? USSR or PRC?
That needs a bit more documentation than the History Channel.
Afaik, Speer allocated enough resources to Heisenberg to perform basic research experiments, but nothing like the scale of support that could generate a bomb. There was no shortage of uranium, but a mistake in measuring the utility of graphite to serve as a moderator meant the Germans were forced to try for a heavy water moderated reactor, which never came about. Other claims of a separate SS run program producing test explosions are undocumented and unverified.
Afaik, Speer allocated enough resources to Heisenberg to perform basic research experiments, but nothing like the scale of support that could generate a bomb. There was no shortage of uranium, but a mistake in measuring the utility of graphite to serve as a moderator meant the Germans were forced to try for a heavy water moderated reactor, which never came about. Other claims of a separate SS run program producing test explosions are undocumented and unverified.
fitliker, if you haven't, pick up a copy of Rhodes "The Making of the Atomic Bomb"...it's regarded as one of the most authoritative works on atomic research prior to WW2 and the development of the first nuclear weapons ..needless to say it has some pages devoted to the German efforts.
Cosmic Irony the guy who designed that particular weapon , Sakharov was awarded a Nobel peace prize
The model of aircraft that carried the payload is still in service and a similar aircraft was playing War games off Alaska this week. Not the scarey version the one with the hypersonic cruise missiles and Mig 31 escorts , just the observation model.
The Nazis were working on a clean Nuclear device , start worrying if the designs and plans for the clean weapon they tested in Poland are ever found . Although such a device would make mining more profitable
The model of aircraft that carried the payload is still in service and a similar aircraft was playing War games off Alaska this week. Not the scarey version the one with the hypersonic cruise missiles and Mig 31 escorts , just the observation model.
The Nazis were working on a clean Nuclear device , start worrying if the designs and plans for the clean weapon they tested in Poland are ever found . Although such a device would make mining more profitable
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My current [and very interesting] reading on Kindle ...
The Western Allies’ Procurement of Nazi Germany’s Technology: The History of British and American Operations to Capture Nazi Scientists and Equipment
I note that it's still free.That needs a bit more documentation than the History Channel.
Afaik, Speer allocated enough resources to Heisenberg to perform basic research experiments, but nothing like the scale of support that could generate a bomb. There was no shortage of uranium, but a mistake in measuring the utility of graphite to serve as a moderator meant the Germans were forced to try for a heavy water moderated reactor, which never came about. Other claims of a separate SS run program producing test explosions are undocumented and unverified.
Afaik, Speer allocated enough resources to Heisenberg to perform basic research experiments, but nothing like the scale of support that could generate a bomb. There was no shortage of uranium, but a mistake in measuring the utility of graphite to serve as a moderator meant the Germans were forced to try for a heavy water moderated reactor, which never came about. Other claims of a separate SS run program producing test explosions are undocumented and unverified.
Unfortunately if you try to do scholarly research on the German weapons programmes, the internet is a dangerous place. It is festering with Nazi fanboi material and pure fantasy (such as Antactic bases, Amerika Racket, 'the Bell' anti-gravity aircraft, flying saucers etc). Each has a germ of truth about them but been then allowed to run riot in the fevered minds of some rather sick people. A classic example of this is: Hans Kammler - The Fairfield Project
Here's a much better researched article on the V2 being deployed to attack specific operational level targets (which I hadn't hear of before). By this stage the batteries had been withdrawn from around The Hague and therefore couldn't reach London. V2ROCKET.COM - SS Werfer Abteilung 500 in Hellendoorn / Dalfsen
Kammler died near Prague in May 1944 in a partisan ambush where he took his own life. He driver later gave evidence to Allied investigators.
Last edited by Whenurhappy; 4th Sep 2020 at 21:32.
BBC NEWS | Europe | Hitler 'tested small atom bomb'
https://www.nevingtonwarmuseum.com/germany---atomic-reactor-atomkellar.html
After a war, the winners write the history.
https://www.nevingtonwarmuseum.com/germany---atomic-reactor-atomkellar.html
After a war, the winners write the history.
In a Willy waving contest points may be awarded for style and entertaining value , but it is usually biggus dickus that wins .
The RAF raid that took out the secret factory in Norway , probably was the most important raid in WW2 . Those crew might never get the recognition they deserve due to secrecy . But without their efforts the war might have ended differently.
The RAF raid that took out the secret factory in Norway , probably was the most important raid in WW2 . Those crew might never get the recognition they deserve due to secrecy . But without their efforts the war might have ended differently.
BBC NEWS | Europe | Hitler 'tested small atom bomb'
https://www.nevingtonwarmuseum.com/germany---atomic-reactor-atomkellar.html
After a war, the winners write the history.
https://www.nevingtonwarmuseum.com/germany---atomic-reactor-atomkellar.html
After a war, the winners write the history.
The only practical indication that the Nazi nuclear program may have been much larger than generally believed is that the controversial Asse salt mine nuclear waste deposit site apparently stores 200,000 tons of nuclear materials including stuff left over from the Nazi era. How much the legacy stuff represents was not disclosed..