4 ms·
You don’t need to force the halves together quickly to start a chain reaction, but you do need to put them together fast to create a bomb. If it’s not fast enou
by eig 2y ago
You don’t need to force the halves together quickly to start a chain reaction, but you do need to put them together fast to create a bomb. If it’s not fast enough you will get a “Fizzle” [0] where some chain reaction is occurring but not over a small enough timespan to make a bomb or to stop the material from disintegrating itself. A similar slow chain reaction process is used to control energy release in nuclear power plants.
[0] - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_chain_reaction#Predetonation https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_chain_reaction#Prede...
- SapporoChris 2y agoFor further reading about the core's history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_core https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_core It's also been discussed numerous times on this board.
- H8crilA 2y agoThis is also what happens in nuclear reactors that go bad. These aren't full blown nuclear explosions, and if there's any major explosion at all it's usually from the hydrogen that is created when hot metals touch water.