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My favorite story was from the Manhattan project. A small handful of physicists were not convinced a nuclear reaction at this scale would stop. According to the
by ransom1538 5y ago
My favorite story was from the Manhattan project. A small handful of physicists were not convinced a nuclear reaction at this scale would stop. According to their calculations - the reaction could consume a larger portion of the planet. Oh well. Let's roll the dice.
- marcosdumay 5y ago> A small handful of physicists were not convinced Somebody came up with the idea, and was immediately dismissed by the most pessimist estimates. After somebody spent 10 minutes doing the math, there was no doubt anymore.
- ithkuil 5y agoFrom Wikipedia: > Edward Teller also raised the speculative possibility that an atomic bomb might "ignite" the atmosphere because of a hypothetical fusion reaction of nitrogen nuclei.[note 2] Bethe calculated that it could not happen,[34] and a report co-authored by Teller showed that "no self-propagating chain of nuclear reactions is likely to be started."[35] In Serber's account, Oppenheimer mentioned the possibility of this scenario to Arthur Compton, who "didn't have enough sense to shut up about it. It somehow got into a document that went to Washington" and was "never laid to rest".