Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!nih-csl!lhc!ncifcrf!haven!uvaarpa!mcnc!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!military From: morgan@ms.uky.edu (Wes Morgan) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Question about Nuclear Weapons Keywords: MRVs Message-ID: <1990Oct24.114913.4072@cbnews.att.com> Date: 24 Oct 90 11:49:13 GMT References: <1990Oct23.190943.7623@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military-request@att.att.com Organization: The Puzzle Palace, UKentucky Lines: 23 Approved: military@att.att.com From: Wes Morgan v126lm7l@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Patrick E Montgomery) writes: > >My question >is as follows: Are not nuclear weapons detinated buy compressing the core of >highly radioactive material until the mass is critical? If so couldn't (at >least theoretically) the pressure of the water on the warhead at deep depths >cause the warhead to ge critical? The important variable in the equation is time. As I under- stand the theory, critical mass is achieved by an *exponential* increase in pressure. With a nuclear device falling into the depths, the increase in pressure is so gradual that critical mass cannot be achieved. -- | Wes Morgan, not speaking for | {any major site}!ukma!ukecc!morgan | | the University of Kentucky's | morgan@engr.uky.edu | | Engineering Computing Center | morgan%engr.uky.edu@UKCC.BITNET | Lint is the compiler's only means of dampening the programmer's ego.