Re: OT: Nuclear War???
Ah, I didn't think that the free neutrons would have a long-term effect. I thought that of the free neutrons, many decay into a proton + electron + neutrino rather quickly (I seem to remember from high school physics that it's hard to get a free neutron to stick around for more than a fraction of a second), adding to the "one-shot" radiation burst. Then I made the assumption that any neutrons reacting with surface elements would probably make a very short-lived isotope. I'm guessing I was wrong on this.
If I remember right, Uranium fission results in something like Barium and Krypton isotopes, each of which has a rather long decay chain (both in numbers of steps and number of years). It was this that I was saying that fusion bombs would probably be "better" than. Of course, there still will be some radioactive residues, but I thought that it wouldn't linger as long. What would it be that sticks around for so long with fusion? Is it mostly things like C13 -> C14? Are those isotopes then in existence at a substantially higher-than-natural ratio?
__________________
GEEK CODE V.3.12: GCS/E d-- s: a-- C++ US+ P+ L++ E--- W+++ N+ !o? K- w-- !O M++ V? PS+ PE Y+ PGP t- 5++ X R !tv-- b+++ DI++ D+ G+ e+++ h !r*-- y?
SE4 CODE: A-- Se+++* GdY $?/++ Fr! C++* Css Sf Ai Au- M+ MpN S Ss- RV Pw- Fq-- Nd Rp+ G- Mm++ Bb@ Tcp- L+
|
Threaded Mode