I was wondering if the Neutron bomb was the same kind of bomb that would only kill people but leave things like houses and trees and whatnot alone? If it is why didn't the military explore this option? It seems like a really good weapon. -Muzz

They did that’s why there is a neutron bomb!!

Check out the Lance Missile. It was deployed in Europe by both the USA and UK during the cold war.

Wasn't there a movie about a Nuetron bomb? And there was like a nearby town with a mutant monster that ate people? Creepy movie...

Originally posted by American Mad Man
I don't know if you are reffering to an EMP bomb or not, but if so no - an EMP bomb sends out a pulse that destroys electrical hardware. An EMP pulse is created though when a nuke goes off.

Yes, I was referring to EMP bombs. Thanks for the clarificaition.

So the Neutron Bomb is the one that doesn't destroy houses and trees and whatnot right?

Originally posted by muzz
So the Neutron Bomb is the one that doesn't destroy houses and trees and whatnot right?

Yes. It has a very small yield, so there is very little damage to buildings. I'm not sure how plant life reacts to radiation, so they may or may not die - I couldn't tell you, though I would think most life forms would die from it. Also, keep in mind that because of the amount of radiation used to kill people, the area the bomb was dropped on would be uninhabitable for quite some time - most likely longer then a normal nuke. That is why small clean nukes are being researched as we speak - so we can go nuke some place and not have to deal with the after effects. I have my doubts if this is a good thing.......

When you saqy yield you mean explosives? so this is just a radiation bomb really. Why would there even need to be any explosives involved? -Muzz

Yes, yield = size of the explosion. Yes, it is designed to scatter large amounts of radiation to kill people.

The explosion is needed to spread the radiation. That mushroom cloud you see in a nuclear explosion contains smoke, dust, ash - but more importantly, radioactive dust. Thus, all of this dust is put very high in air and travels very far before it reaches the ground.

Alternatively, you can detonate a nuclear weapon in the atmosphere in order to spread that radioactive dust over very large distances. I am not sure, but these might be outlawed in international treaties - im not sure.

In any case, the explosion is used to spread the radioactive material, and thus is used to creat the radius of the weapon.

BTW - I am not a bomb "expert" or anything, so I could be wrong on any one of my comments. I have read a good amount on nukes though, and this is how I understand them to work.

mad man i believe ur right about the neutron bomb because iv done a little skimming of neutron bombs and thats what it said the bomb done

thank you for the conformation

Try doing a Google search on "enhanced radiation weapons".

Neutron bombs where developed as a way of stopping soviet armour columns as the large amounts of gamma radiation produced could easily penetrate tank armour

Originally posted by Eddie999
Neutron bombs where developed as a way of stopping soviet armour columns as the large amounts of gamma radiation produced could easily penetrate tank armour

I did not know this. Thanks for informing me.

I'm assuming that these were the first detterent against an invasion of germany?

Was this technology even around for germany? I can understand the use of atomic weapons to keep germany from rising a third time.

Originally posted by muzz
Was this technology even around for germany? I can understand the use of atomic weapons to keep germany from rising a third time.

I am talking about the cold war - the US and NATO in general had planned for an invasion of west Germany by the USSR. However. we didn't have enough troops there to hold off an all out attack, so most likely, these nuetron bombs would be used on the ranks of tanks and soldiers. Remember, from the late 40's up till the 90's every US weapon was designed to combat the USSR. One of NATO's great fears was that the USSR would invade western Europe, and thus we would be forced to nuke our allies land. Iguess on top of killing all our enemies, these weapons had the added bonus of not destroying our allies buildings.

Nice find Vadaar

Originally posted by muzz
I was wondering if the Neutron bomb was the same kind of bomb that would only kill people but leave things like houses and trees and whatnot alone? If it is why didn't the military explore this option? It seems like a really good weapon. -Muzz

As I understand it, it's a pretty horrible, slow death.

However, there are countries and power mongers who don't care a flip about someone else's horrible slow death.

I could easily imagine Russia using it against the USA, as well as Iran, NK, Syria, Venezuela, China, . . . even China doing it against Taiwan. I pray I'm wrong.

But in an era when "there is no right or wrong," about anything goes.

It's unclear to me whether we have any such but I think we should if only to counter the jerks more prone to use them.