Thanks jim, for unravelling that twisted web. I would love to have an extra star in the solar system. Unfortunely, that guys theory has about as much chance of happening as someone sitting by a campfire has of setting the forest ablaze w a fart.
SS
Could NASA's Galileo Create A Jovian Nagasaki?
by SYN 20 Replies latest jw experiences
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SYN
Thanks for clearing that up, Amazing. Some of the points you mentioned are...well...dodgy, to say the least!
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Gerard
Gerard --- I don't think I ever heard about the canadian incident .
Most people do not know that a Soviet satellite with a nuclear reactor crashed on Earth. Just perform a Google search using the satellite's name: Cosmos 954 :
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Cosmos+954&btnG=Google+Search
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hecs-sesc/neprd/nep-events/cosmos.htm
http://www.dnd.ca/site/fourth_dimension/2002/jan02/jan25_fd_e.htm
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/spacedeb/canadapl.htm
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Bendrr
Yawn. We're gonna die....We're gonna die.....
Yawn.
I need another beer.
Mike.
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FreeWilly
I agree that a fission/fusion event is entirely unlikely. Mainly because Pu-238 is not a readily fissionable material (fissile).
However, that being said, the one point that was made in the article is a valid one. If a fission event occurs in a hydrogen rich environment (i.e. liquid hydrogen) than fusion can be supported. The Teller-Ulam device is a 2 stage fusion weapon that uses a fission implosion trigger to initiate fusion in hydrogen rich material (Tritium, Dueterium). The resulting reaction releases a burst of X-rays, heat and pressure. This ultimately causes the (Tritium/Dueterium) to fuse - fusion.
That being said, a fission 'bomb' ignited in hydrogen could initiate fusion.
Fissile material could be fissioned by a simple high power impact. The first fission bombs (Little Boy -Hiroshima) are actually called "Gun-barrel" bombs. They are pretty simple. Fire a fissile projectile (U-235) into another fissile adsorber with enough force and you initiate a fission explosion.
Do that in hydrogen (H1,H2 or H3) and you should start fusion.
If all the conditions were right, it could happen.
I don't know much about the direct fissionability of Pu-238 though. My understanding was that it first needed to adsorb a nuetron, undergo beta decay to become Pu-239 (fissile) then fission after an additional nuetron incident. This is the first time I've heard that it was directly fissionable outside of a neutron flux. Also, the Pu-238 has probably decayed enough by now to have enough impurities in it to make fission all but impossible. Nobody seems to know much about the make-up of Jupiter and the concentration of hydrogen in its atmospere or near the surface.
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AlanF
There's no way that runaway fusion could occur on Jupiter due to a fission bomb exploding. I can't do the physics, but can give an analogy: the sun. The sun is mostly hydrogen, and its inner temperature and pressure are simultaneously high enough to sustain fusion -- stably. If this huge mass of hydrogen, which is already undergoing fusion, can be stable under such high temperature and pressure, then there's no way that a mass 1/1000 the size, under far less pressure, could possibly sustain a fusion reaction. Also note that comets from time to time fall into the sun. A comet can release trillions of times the energy in the Nagasaki bomb. If the sun can absorb such a massive strike, then it's pretty obvious that Jupiter can absorb a strike of a trillionth the energy.
If a fission bomb exploded in Jupiter's atmosphere, there might be a bit of fusion reaction for an instant, but not much. In a fusion bomb you don't just take a mass of hydrogen (like a tank of heavy water) and stick it next to a fission bomb and expect it to blow up properly. It won't. In a real bomb, the hydrogen is put into a less dense form, in something like a foam plastic to get the density just right. If the density is too high the reaction instantly proceeds too fast and creates so much heat and pressure that the remaining fuel is blown away so fast that it doesn't get to the high temperature and pressure necessary to sustain a fusion reaction.
It's obvious to me that the people who are putting out these scary news items are as clueless as those who believe in astrology.
AlanF
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Amazing
Hi Syn,
Thanks for clearing that up, Amazing. Some of the points you mentioned are...well...dodgy, to say the least!
I am not sure how I "dodged" anything ... my specific points were on target ... the rest were my general reactions.
Btw: AlanF also made some interesting points about Fusion relating to the mass, density, and temperature of the Sun vs Jupiter. Fusion reaction is almost a completely reverse reaction to Fission ... it is hard to believe that a Fission explosion from 48 pounds of Plutonium would ignite Jupiter into a Fussion reaction. Astronomical science currently theorizes that Jupiter and possibly Saturn are a failed Stars. Each may have tried to ignite, but they are not massive enough to sustain a fusion reaction. People make way too much doomsday stories out of radioactive products. I have a healthy respect for radioactive material, but once you work with it, you come to understand its limitations.
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SYN
Hi Amazing,
I wasn't saying that your points were dodgy, I was just saying that the points which you highlighted in the article itself were a bit suspicious! i.e. You were on the spot with your commentary!
[SYN], Should Be More Careful With British Slang Class...
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ninecharger
Has this guy been reading "The Golden Age", or perhaps "Consolation" Magazines?
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Francois
I believe there were prognostications of doom when that broken up comet hit Jupiter back a few years ago. As you know, it didn't. It DID leave a few smudges much larger than expected, but that was it. No Jovian Nagasaki.
francois
