Fourth Generation Nuclear Weapons

[sanman]

Muon Catalysis of p-Z Fusion Reactions at Z>1

http://www.jetpletters.ac.ru/ps/1254/article_18967.pdf

Ahh, I see. The higher the charge of the reaction products, then the more likely the muon will stick to those products (eg. "alpha-sticking")

But doesn't that then recommend H + H -> D + positron + neutrino
Because then at least the D product has a minimal charge to minimize muon-sticking

 

[James Essig]

Hi sanman;

A couple of weeks ago, I read an article in a very recent issue of Science News Magazine about the concept of so-called super atoms. These are arrangements of individual atoms within relatively large molecules wherein the molecules have orbitals as a whole in much the same way that a single atoms has electron orbitals or electron cloud/shells.

The article stated that perhaps certain forms of super atoms could store dense states of hydrogen within a central cage like section. If these super atoms can store H1, then I suppose they could store dense forms of deuterium and perhaps even dense forms of tritium.

I am not sure how this would benefit the subject methods discussed above for muon catalyzed fusion, but perhaps it could be of benefit. I do not know if superatoms could store hydrogen, and the like in denser form than fullerenes or nested fullerenes, but since you have expressed interest in the above subject, I thought I would pass this information along in case you have not already heard of super atoms for such potential applications.

Regards;

Jim

 

[sanman]

Hi James,

Here's what I read on the Superatom:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superatom

 

[James Essig]

Hi sanman;

Thanks for posting the Wikipedia link to the superatoms article. I found the article most interesting.

By the way, the Science News issue I was referring to is either the latest issue or the previous one. The article is of good quality and is about 3-4 pages long.

I support any thing that has clean nuclear energy for commercial electric power production given the threat of global warming and the resulting threat to our national security and even global security. Nuclear fusion would be great for such a purpose.

I guess if the nuclear genie must remain out of the bottle, then we might as well if possible develope pure nuclear fusion devices and hopefully upon successful development of such devices, replace our current stockpile with pure fusion bombs which I would assume could be made in multiple megaton yield versions and thus not just in low yield versions such as 0.1 to 1.0 kiloton yeild devices.

Regards;

Jim

 

[sanman]

Here's another new article, James:

http://www.physorg.com/news134129791.html

I'm wondering how this phenomenon could be studied in more detail, rather than making blackbox macroscopic measurements? Maybe attosecond lasers, etc, could help to image these "superatoms" to tell us in more detail what's going on.

Are these superatoms a basic/primitive version of a Bose-Einstein Condensate?

 

[James Essig]

Hi sanman;

Thanks for the URL to the article. I plan on reading that article in full later this evening.

It occurred to me that indeed, attosecond laser pulses might be good to study superatoms. Other methods might include x ray diffraction crystallography, neutron diffraction crystallography, electron microscopy, or any other techniques capable of resolution on the scale of say 0.05 nanometers to 5 nanometers.

From what I gather from what I have read so far on the subject, it seems that the electronic clouds or socalled called orbitals of these superatoms seem to follow the same rules of magic numbers for single atoms in filling the energy levels or shells.

Perhaps there is an effect simmilar to Bose Einstein Condensation going on here. You have really got me interested in this subject. I will have to read more later tonight.

Regards;

Jim

 

[Vals509]

why is it that when we already have powerful nuclear weapons, research is going into making more ones. isn't this like digging your own grave?

 

[Morbius]

why is it that when we already have powerful nuclear weapons, research is going into making more ones. isn't this like digging your own grave?

Vals509,

Because nuclear weapons - like ANY machine - will age and deteriorate.

What do you think would happen to your car or an airliner if you just parked it and didn't
do any maintenance on it? Would you really want to fly on an airliner that had just been
sitting on the tarmac for 30 years without being flown or serviced by a mechanic?

The two things that a nuclear weapon has to do is to explode when it is commanded to;
and NOT explode when it is not commanded to under ANY other conditions. For example;
in 2007; a US Air Force B-52 mistakenly flew several nuclear weapons from North Dakota
to Louisiana. What if that aircraft had crashed? Even in a crash, you do NOT want the
nuclear weapons to explode as nuclear weapons. Suppose the safety features were
compromised due to age. You do NOT want to own nuclear weapons and then NEGLECT
them.

Contrary to popular belief; and the missives in the media; the ongoing research is NOT
about making nuclear weapons "bigger" or "more powerful". The military has better and
more accurate delivery systems - the yields of new nuclear weapons have been going DOWN
for decades. [ The actual total yield of the US arsenal actually peaked during the Kennedy
Administration ]

The number one goal of current research is to make nuclear weapons SAFER!

For example, the new Livermore design for the RRW features many new SAFETY
features:

http://nnsa.energy.gov/news/1145.htm

"Insensitive high explosives, which are far less susceptible to accidental detonation,
will be used in RRW to replace conventional high explosives."

Unfortunately, it appears that nobody in Washington is interested in SAFER nuclear weapons.

Some like California's Senator Dianne Feinsten say that if the US makes a new nuclear weapon,
it would send the "wrong message" to the other nuclear powers. The problem for Senator Feinstein's
argument is "that ship has already sailed". The USA is the ONLY nuclear weapons state that is
NOT modernizing its arsenal:

http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20081029_2822.php

"Currently, the United States is the only declared nuclear power that is neither modernizing its nuclear arsenal
nor has the capability to produce a new nuclear warhead," Gates told the audience yesterday.

Dr. Gregory Greenman
Physicist