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From: jwm@stdc.jhuapl.edu (Jim Meritt )
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Question about Nuclear Weapons
Message-ID: <1990Oct26.021256.27424@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 26 Oct 90 02:12:56 GMT
Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker)
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From: jwm@stdc.jhuapl.edu (Jim Meritt )
>From: v126lm7l@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Patrick E Montgomery)
>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 sea water on the warhead at deep depths cause the warhead
>to get critical?

I would be terribly suprised if ocean water pressure got high enough
to squeeze stronger than an implosion.

However, getting squeezed is only part of the problem.  The blast has to
be contained in its supercritical state long enough for a significant
amount of the fissionable to fission.  Otherwise it fizzles.  I REALLY
doubt that ocean pressure (that had been slowly equalizing throughout
the descent) could contain it.

As a demo.  We HAVE dropped the suckers into the ocean.  No boom.  The
Soviets lost  LOT of them (missle warheads on sunk SSBN) deep.  No boom.

Jim Meritt