Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!att!cbnews!commgrp@silver.bacs.indiana.edu From: commgrp@silver.bacs.indiana.edu (BACS Data Communications Group) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Kissinger on Micronukes Message-ID: <5515@cbnews.ATT.COM> Date: 7 Apr 89 23:12:49 GMT Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM Lines: 45 Approved: military@att.att.com From: BACS Data Communications Group military@cbnews.ATT.COM (William B. Thacker) writes: >...Henry Kissinger in one of his books used as an example of >how technology can suddenly change the political environment, a >speculation of the effect of the development of a nuclear >bullet. In particular, sponge californium... > >Of course, the actual example used by HK is absurd. Californium >is so radioactive and has such a short half-life that it could >not be an effective weapon, even for asassination. > >But what if a highly-saturated slug of palladium can be forced >into sudden fusion by impact... Erroneous though it may prove, it's fun to speculate during the infancy of cold fusion (the year zero AF), after the fashion of Mary Shelley et al in the age of frog-leg electronics. Like it or not, anything as potentially powerful as cold fusion probably has weapons applications. A pencil-sized metal bar released 34 megajoules of heat over a long period. One megajoule is roughly equivalent to a stick of dynamite (T. Clancy, _The Cardinal of the Kremlin_). Lattices containing stored energy are reminiscent of lasers. If the deuterium or tritium could be stimulated to fuse in unison (by injecting muons or whatever), it might be a fusion laser (i.e., a FASER - I love it!), or a mini neutron-bomb, .50-cal slug that goes off like a case of dynamite (hopefully with arming delay so that it doesn't explode on impact too close to the launcher), terrorist volksnuke hand grenade, nuclear shaped-charge, nonfission H-bomb trigger, EMP power supply, SDI weapon in itself or as energy source for (already known) nuclear-pumped X-ray laser. -- Frank reid@gold.bacs.indiana.edu Park nuclear-powered cars in front of Jane Fonda's house.