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The earliest bombs had used nuclear fission, splitting heavy atoms to release energy. Later bombs used nuclear fusion, which fused hydrogen atoms to release energy. Both designs produced tremendous blasts that could level whole cities, and left them uninhabitable for long periods because of lingering radiation.
Cohen's neutron bomb would use nuclear fusion, but in a different way. The detonation of a neutron bomb would still produce an explosion, but one much smaller than a standard nuclear weapon's. The main effect of a neutron bomb would be the release of high-energy neutrons that would take lives far beyond the blast area. The result: fewer buildings, cars, tanks, roads, highways and other structures destroyed.
And unlike standard nuclear bombs that leave long-term contamination of the soil and infrastructure, the neutron radiation quickly dissipates after the explosion.
For Cohen, the neutron bomb is the ultimate sane weapon. It kills humans, or as he puts it "the bad guys," but doesn't produce tremendous collateral damage on civilian populations and the infrastructure a civilian population needs to survive.
Originally posted by alternateheaven
some physicist with a half dozen Ph.Ds might be able to tell you, but i can offer something much better. We DONT need another fricken bomb! Nor another deadly virus, or gut wrenching chemical. Its all just a race of stupidity to see who can blow themselves up first.
Originally posted by Indefatigable
Albert Einstein�s famous equation E=mc(squared) shows that mass is a concentrated form of energy. Fission and Fusion reactions convert just a fraction of 1 percent of their mass into energy. But there is a way to convert matter into energy at nearly 100 percent efficiency: Combine matter with anti-matter, its mirror twin. Physicists have created tiny quantities of antimatter by smashing sub-atomic particles together at near-light speeds. Scientists at CERN, the European physics facility in Switzerland, recently managed to create 1 million anti-hydrogen atoms---about 10(to the negative 15th power) of a pound. A mutual annihilation of a half a pound each of hydrogen and anti-hydrogen would unleash more energy than a 10-megaton hydrogen bomb, along with a shower of subatomic particles called pions and muons.
An excerpt from the Aug. 2003 Discover magazine.
It was also mentioned that tanks, magnets, radiators, and particle beams needed to contain such a material has already been created.
A side note: The technology is obviously somewhat undeveloped.
And just for a fact, anti-matter can be extremly heavy.
[Edited on 23-11-2003 by Indefatigable]
Originally posted by alternateheaven
some physicist with a half dozen Ph.Ds might be able to tell you, but i can offer something much better. We DONT need another fricken bomb! Nor another deadly virus, or gut wrenching chemical. Its all just a race of stupidity to see who can blow themselves up first.
Originally posted by Loki
I really doubt you could make an antimatter bomb. Simply put, it reacts explosively with it's opposite....matter. Which is...anything. Oxygen molecule=matter.
Secondly....Do you realize how powerful antimatter really is? It would only take an amount as small as a TEASPOON to destroy the earth. A TEASPOON!
It's simply impossible. That's all I have to say on it.
Originally posted by KKing123
well, actually, it IS feasible, but part of the weapon would have to include a pretty strong magnetic field built in such a way as to make sure none of the anti-matter can touch anything
but i do agree with you that possible though it may be, it should NEVER EVER be built
Originally posted by Hyperspace
I like bombs, they make me cum.