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An under-appreciated aspect of most traditional engineering disciplines is how many unknowns there are from materials science, physics, quality control, and man
by lumost 5y ago
An under-appreciated aspect of most traditional engineering disciplines is how many unknowns there are from materials science, physics, quality control, and manufacturing precision.
You could know the shape, mechanics, yield, make-up, and components of the Fat-Man device while still being thousands of experiments and a multi-billion dollar industrial infrastructure away from being able to build one.
- xxpor 5y agoWe got very lucky that it so happens that the fissible isotope of uranium is the rare one. Although I forget if there's a relationship with half life, so it might be inevitable?
- water8 5y agoNatural Uranium is not very radioactive. For example, it would take Uranium 4.5 billion years to release the same amount of radiation that Francium does in 22 minutes.
- saboot 5y ago> a multi-billion dollar industrial infrastructure away from being able to build one. This is true! And the biggest reason why despite AQ Kahn selling a "make your own fat man" kit only a few countries were successful with it. However, additive manufacturing poses a big nuclear proliferation risk. Being able to manufacture accurate parts for cheap, without advanced export controlled equipment, poses serious issues.