4 ms·
For a sense of scale, 93 kg of uranium would occupy a space a little smaller than one soccer ball: https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=volume+of+93+kg+of+ura
by wgrover 5y ago
For a sense of scale, 93 kg of uranium would occupy a space a little smaller than one soccer ball: https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=volume+of+93+kg+of+uranium https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=volume+of+93+kg+of+ura...
- throwanem 5y agoHEU would be supercritical in that configuration, wouldn't it?
- wgrover 5y agoI suspect you're right, so we can assume that it was never all in one piece or we would have known about it!
- throwanem 5y agoOh, I don't know. Lacking implosive compression the consequence would have been, not the sort of blast you seem to have in mind, but rather a "demon core"-style radiation accident. That said, it'd still be enthusiastically messy albeit in a more limited fashion, and there'd still be no reason for anyone to assemble the material that way - not least for what grisly example became of the last guy who took so little care. Still, as you note, it's remarkable to think of the density of the material - a soccer ball's worth that masses about as much as me.