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Originally posted by ANNED
I have heard of a research theory of a pure fusion device based on the Rods from God.
www.popsci.com...
www.globalsecurity.org...
It is a tungsten rod up to 20 feet in length and 1 foot in diameter.
It has a hollow core down the middle about 2 inches in diameter about 2 to 10 foot long filled with tritium-deuterium mix and lined with a neutron source.
These are launched into space and guided back into the atmosphere at a target.
These rods, which could be dropped on a target with as little as 15 minutes notice, would enter the Earth's atmosphere at a speed of 36,000+ feet per second--about as fast as a meteor.
They would create so much heat and pressure on impact that the tritium-deuterium mix would enter a pure fusion state of a hydrogen bomb without using a nuclear trigger.
Without the fission of a fission-fusion hydrogen bomb you would have very little to no radiation. but there would be a burst of neutrons from the hydrogen fusion reaction that would last for a few seconds to a couple minutes at a depth underground.
But with a megaton power range.
That is the next step beyond conventional nuclear weapons.
Originally posted by Phage
The Tsar Bomba was actually a three stage device (fission-fusion-fission). As in all thermonuclear devices, the first stage was a either a plutonium or uranium fission reaction. The fusion stage used the tritium-deuterium reaction.
Originally posted by Ulala
If memory serves right the intention was to use the neutron bomb as a battlefield weapon against advancing Soviet tanks. It would kill their tank crews with an immediate burst of lethal radiation & our forces would roll on into the gap with little risk of radioactive contamination.
Originally posted by buddhasystem
Originally posted by Phage
The Tsar Bomba was actually a three stage device (fission-fusion-fission). As in all thermonuclear devices, the first stage was a either a plutonium or uranium fission reaction. The fusion stage used the tritium-deuterium reaction.
Thank you for you valuable contributions. Just wanted to point out that this original design was not implemented and they put in a lead damper (instead of the third stage).
Originally posted by Xtrozero
Hence the reason the US stopped the program in the 70s with it being too inhuman, and so the big bang, long term radiation is a lot more humanistic.