Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ncar!gatech!amdcad!military
From: stiatl!john@gatech.edu (John DeArmond)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Depleted Uranium
Message-ID: <27003@amdcad.AMD.COM>
Date: 29 Aug 89 06:23:06 GMT
References: <8230@cbnews.ATT.COM>
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From: stiatl!john@gatech.edu (John DeArmond)
[An old article got released from some site, with misinformation that
was corrected when it first came out.  I'm posting John DeArmond's
reply so no one is misled, but I'm not going to allow any more posts
on this.  If you're interested in the original discussion, ask
military-request@att.att.com for the appropriate digests. --CDR]

In article <8230@cbnews.ATT.COM> ps01%gte.com@RELAY.CS.NET (Paul L. Suh) writes:
>%In one installment of "For Your Eyes Only" in the old _Strategy_&_Tactics_, I
>%recall a brief discussion on depleted uranium rounds.  One interesting point
>raised (that I have not heard mentioned since) was _S&T's_ contention that upon
>encountering massive G forces (such as would occur upon striking armor at high 
>%speed), a DU round will emit an intensely lethal but extremely brief burst of
>%radiation.  

I hate to inject some physics into this discussion but this thread has
gone way past the ridiculous.

All of the above is patently false.  The forces exerted on matter, even
when traveling at the velocity of cannon rounds are trivial compared
to the nuclear forces that hold atoms together.  It is simply 
impossible to "jar a few neutrons" out by hitting Uraninum.

Some particulars.  Yes, there is a class of atomic weapon known as 
the implosion bomb.  Which has nothing to do with this discussion.
An implosion bomb uses specially shaped explosives to drive a 
sphere (or other shape) of fissionable into a smaller, denser, and
critical mass.  

Even when the explosion creates a massively supercritical mass, massive
fission does not commence for a period of time ranging from a few to very
many milliseconds depending on how neutronically quiet the area is.
Uranium and plutonium both undergo spontaneous fission so a neutron will
eventually become available.  In any event, this time frame is an eternity
compared to the impact time of a bullet.

Atomic weapons do not rely in spontaneous fission.  They contain devices
that supply  bursts of precisely timed neutrons to the supercritical
mass. 

The effects of depleted U projectiles are strictly limited to 
the physical and chemical properties of the metal.  It is the heavist
naturally occuring metal so it delivers the greatest knetic energy
for a given bullet size.  And since it is pyrophoric, it will be on
fire and probably molten when it penetrates the target.  Both are 
very destructive but have NOTHING to do with the nuclear properties of
the metal.

John

-- 
John De Armond, WD4OQC                     | Manual? ... What manual ?!? 
Sales Technologies, Inc.    Atlanta, GA    | This is Unix, My son, You 
...!gatech!stiatl!john    **I am the NRA** | just GOTTA Know!!!