4 ms·

>Back at the Base I was furious to hear of discussions of the possibility that the atmosphere might be detonated. This possibility had been discussed at Los Ala

>Back at the Base I was furious to hear of discussions of the possibility that the atmosphere might be detonated. This possibility had been discussed at Los Alamos and had been quashed by intensive studies of all possibilities by Hans Bethe and others. It was thoughtless bravado to bring up the subject as a table and barracks topic before soldiers unacquainted with nuclear physics and with the results of Bethe's studies. This part is interesting. I had always heard that there was some concern about the Bomb literally lighting the sky on fire, but it sounds like they did their due diligence.

mhh__ 6y ago
> intensive studies of all possibilities by Hans Bethe and others One thing that fascinates me is that there must be quasi-journals for classified papers hidden away in places like this
arethuza 6y ago
This link has some details about what they were actually worried about - which appears to be that a nuclear weapon would trigger fusion of nitrogen nuclei: http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2015/ph241/chung1/ http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2015/ph241/chung1/
- mannykannot 6y ago
  That's fascinating - and, later, a somewhat similar calculation was done erroneously. The yield of the Castle Bravo bomb - the first hydrogen bomb to use lithium as its source of tritium - was 250% greater than predicted, on account of overlooking the prompt conversion of lithium-7 to tritium when bombarded by high-energy neutrons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Bravo#High_yield https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Bravo#High_yield
  - arethuza 6y ago
    I'm sure I read that someone had done that calculation for Castle Bravo and was watching the test and for a few moments, as the fireball got bigger and bigger and bigger, that they had actually got the calculation wrong!
    - Already__Taken 6y ago
      weren't they on the same Island with it in a bunker or something?
deleted 6y ago
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mhh__ 6y ago

> intensive studies of all possibilities by Hans Bethe and others One thing that fascinates me is that there must be quasi-journals for classified papers hidden away in places like this

arethuza 6y ago

This link has some details about what they were actually worried about - which appears to be that a nuclear weapon would trigger fusion of nitrogen nuclei: http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2015/ph241/chung1/ http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2015/ph241/chung1/

mannykannot 6y ago
That's fascinating - and, later, a somewhat similar calculation was done erroneously. The yield of the Castle Bravo bomb - the first hydrogen bomb to use lithium as its source of tritium - was 250% greater than predicted, on account of overlooking the prompt conversion of lithium-7 to tritium when bombarded by high-energy neutrons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Bravo#High_yield https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Bravo#High_yield
- arethuza 6y ago
  I'm sure I read that someone had done that calculation for Castle Bravo and was watching the test and for a few moments, as the fireball got bigger and bigger and bigger, that they had actually got the calculation wrong!
  - Already__Taken 6y ago
    weren't they on the same Island with it in a bunker or something?

deleted 6y ago

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