I thought a nuclear device was either 'all or nothing' so how is a yield of a few hundred tons possible without a very sophisticated device?
2006-10-10 16:35:02 · 9 answers · asked by presidentrichardnixon 3 in Politics & Government ➔ Military
You get a fizzle by not having a high enough neutron flux early on in the reaction. It's easy to do by accident. I bet it was their detonators.
2006-10-10 16:41:17 · answer #1 · answered by rb42redsuns 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's not technology that brings the "nuclear chain reaction" phenomena. You could do it be Gravity to drop one piece of the core on another and you still get a nuclear bang.
This bang is the all and nothing.
Technology is to pack these guys good_to_deliver.
If the material is not pure or very heavy , it fizzles ,, that's good only for fireworks on Haloween's.
2006-10-10 23:50:42 · answer #2 · answered by wai l 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You have this huge geodesic dome of nuclear material, see, in hundreds of bits, and to get fusion, they all have to be pushed inward to the center at the precise same moment, which requires each piece to have conventional explosive on the outside that all go off at the same moment, propelling them inward all at once, causing critical mass and starting a nuclear chain reaction, but if they aren't so precise, you get premature enucleation, or what is known by the technical term of "fizzle".
Nukes aren't easy to make work. You have to be smart enough to build one and stupid enough to want to.
2006-10-10 23:41:56 · answer #3 · answered by open4one 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Remember that there is both fusion and fission, and many of the principles are very different. A fizzle is possable with both kinds of a reaction, but the way they are caused is very different.
2006-10-11 01:47:26 · answer #4 · answered by tom l 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Any similar to putting out a fire-crackers to celebrate the new year?
Fear is the key!
2006-10-10 23:39:44 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't know, but the korean resteraunt i love to eat at can't even figure out how to hook up the soda machine the right way......sooo, that being said....surely they can screw up a nuke
2006-10-10 23:40:29 · answer #6 · answered by Army Guy 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no. there have been partial nuke explosions before.
not sure how accurate, but someone once told me only a fraction of the Hirohima bomb actually detonated.
2006-10-10 23:37:49 · answer #7 · answered by kent_shakespear 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Maybe it was Larry, Curly, and Moe at the switch.
2006-10-10 23:37:00 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
"sophisticated"-were talking about K-O-R-E-A ever bought ne thing made in korea?
2006-10-10 23:38:56 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋