Greetings and Nuclear Weapons.
Jerry Yen (momopi@mail.com)
Fri, 12 Nov 1999 14:54:20 -0500 (EST)
1.0: Self Introduction
Name: Jerry Yen
Nick: Momopi, Momoko
Association: Group Hooseki
URL: http://anime.jyu.fi/greyhawk/hooseki/
LoGH Project involvement: Hack transation of Silver Valley #1-3.
Preference: Mahoushoujo, shoujo, bishonen, space opera.
Dream: Imperial battleships in LoGH transform into giant robots, Imperial
Admirals are 16 year old idol singers.
2.0: Nuclear weapons
There was a discussion on the usage of nuclear weapons in space, how it
differs from being used on a planet, etc. back in late October from Shrike
(Gereme) and others.
This is a late contribution to the above mentioned discussion. The
information provided are from a friend who builds nuclear weapons in his
spare time, in an unspecified foreign country.
2.1: Atmosphereic detonation
Nuclear explosion within the atmosphere have 2 major cause of immediate
damage:
a. Radiation blast, a burst of gamma/x-rays and neutrons. This will
vaporize everything close enough to impact point. Further out, it vaporises
surfaces, causes fires, make paint on cars dissapear, etc.
Given sufficient shielding and some distance, the radiation blast won't do
as much (physical property) damage. However:
b. The shock wave produced by the blast will kill you, if the radiation
didn't do the job.
The US military conducted a test decades ago named "Gravel". 2 identical
sites were setup with trees, houses, military vehicles, etc.
Site one had several 100kt bombs exploding via air-burst above target range.
The result shows that, target damage beyond 1 mile distance was limited.
Armored vehicles placed several hundred yards away actually didn't sustain
much damage.
Site two was bombed by a shell warhead, fired from a cannon, with much lower
yield (verus site one). The shell exploded at ground level. The resulting
shock wave sliced through buildings like ginzu knifes through tomatoes and
flung armored vehicles like match boxes.
Following the shock wave, there would be a fire storm in immediate area,
sucking up all the available oxygen. So, if you survived the radiation and
shock wave somehow, you'd still suffocate to death.
2.2: Detonation in outer space
a. Radiation blast in space is still effective, targets within close
proximity will be vaporized. Further out, surface of other targets will be
damaged, and so on.
b. Shock wave effect would be very limited (comparred to shock wave on a
planet's surface), but, it'd still damage targets that are very close.
c. The electromagnetic pulse from the blast (em pulse) in outer space will
destroy electronics on space ships over a very wide area.
In the 1960's, the US detonated several nukes in orbit ("high altitude
tests"), and found that the em pulse knocked out communication, caused black
outs (The backouts were caused by channeling fast electrons to van allen
belts), etc.
It was thought, at the time, that if you can detonate nukes in "high
altitude", it would destroy the electronics of incoming Soviet attack.
Nevermind irradiating your atomsphere...
d. If you hit a ship with a nuclear "torpedo" or missile in space, and the
warhead detonates upon impact, the ship will be gone for obvious reasons.
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