Topic: OT ~ What's bigger, a Nuke Bomb or an Anti-matter Bomb?

[KAT Chuut-Ritt]

not to mention that the yield was far more than was needed to destroy any one target in the world.

Not if the target was human ignorance 

[FPF-SCM_TraceyG_XC]

Imagine if it was filled with antimatter!

[KAT Chuut-Ritt]

Somehow I think human ignorance would survive the blast even so 

[FPF-Tobin Dax]

As long as any of the human race survived at all, yes you're quite right.

[CaptJosh]

Funny thing is, it's known that the USA had warheads designed for a max yield of ~200MT. There were even designs for ~500MT thermonuclear warheads, but I guess cooler heads prevailed and those were never developed. I doubt we ever tested the ~200MT warheads though...

[Stormbringer]

Largely true but if i am not mistaken one of the pacific tests went somewhat out of control and the blast was many times larger than expected. it vaporized an island. that is my premis for suggesting that we have tested the 2oo or so range weapons.

but back to antimatter imagine a storage and delivery system as simple as computer memory where the charge states of magnetic domains are flipped by the millions through logic gates. by arranging these around voids for antimatter to rest in suspended by electrical charges we could do something with ease and safety that the fictional startrek scientists of the future did only with trememdous difficulty and expense of power and equipment and at great peril.

[CaptJosh]

Sounds like a magnetic bottle, to me.

[FPF-Tobin Dax]

Largely true but if i am not mistaken one of the pacific tests went somewhat out of control and the blast was many times larger than expected. it vaporized an island. that is my premis for suggesting that we have tested the 2oo or so range weapons.

but back to antimatter imagine a storage and delivery system as simple as computer memory where the charge states of magnetic domains are flipped by the millions through logic gates. by arranging these around voids for antimatter to rest in suspended by electrical charges we could do something with ease and safety that the fictional startrek scientists of the future did only with trememdous difficulty and expense of power and equipment and at great peril.

Hopefully this isn't run on windows software...

[Stormbringer]

Sounds like a magnetic bottle, to me.

Nah. a magnetic bottle requires huge superconducting magnets usually aranged in a torus. they cost trilions of dollars to approach the level of containment needed for ordinary plasma. antimatter would require even more leakproof bottles because of volume of antimatter that would contactthe walls in the event of a breach ofthe fields. with my scheme if a cell failed only a few particles would be compromised at a time making for a nearly undetectable event rather than a catastrophic explosion. and if a few cells failed or even a lot the remaining intact cells could still be used until the chip could be replaced.

[CaptJosh]

Ok. But it does still seem like there's a magnetic field of some sort involved here.

[Stormbringer]

Ok. But it does still seem like there's a magnetic field of some sort involved here.

there would be to transferthe antimatter out of storage and consolidate the tiny bits into an amount needed to generate good thrust. but because the storage  fields are tiny it is not a magnetic bottle in the sense understood in the fusion community or in the tech talk of trek.  you might think of it as more of a magnetic funnel than a bottle.

[Braxton_RIP]

Funny thing is, it's known that the USA had warheads designed for a max yield of ~200MT. There were even designs for ~500MT thermonuclear warheads, but I guess cooler heads prevailed and those were never developed. I doubt we ever tested the ~200MT warheads though...

If only you knew.....

[KAT J'inn]

<has flash back of a red eye flight from LA>


Me . . .   J'inn the Loving . . .  gets stuck in the friggin middle seat for the whole flight between two Computer Guys.   They start up with a Linux vs. WIndows debate . . . .

Somewhere over Colorado . . .  I started to cry.

[Sirgod]

Shoot you think that's bad Will, all I've determined is to keep Yellow cake out of Dizzy's hands. The man scares me. 

Stephen

[762_XC]

Largely true but if i am not mistaken one of the pacific tests went somewhat out of control and the blast was many times larger than expected. it vaporized an island. that is my premis for suggesting that we have tested the 2oo or so range weapons.

It was a 15 MT test. They were expecting 6MT. This was the largest yield ever tested by the US.

That was before they figured out that lithium makes a good fusion fuel.