1
00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,160
Speaker 1: Get in text with technology with tech Stuff from how

2
00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:14,160
Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff.

3
00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:16,919
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan's trick Land. I'm an executive producer

4
00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:22,079
Speaker 1: and how Stuff Works in love all things to though

5
00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:25,000
Speaker 1: maybe not this next topic. Maybe I should say I

6
00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:29,200
Speaker 1: love most things tech. It's time for another classic episode,

7
00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:33,120
Speaker 1: and this particular topic is a pretty tough one. It's

8
00:00:33,159 --> 00:00:37,240
Speaker 1: about how nuclear weapons work. And it's not a topic

9
00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:42,760
Speaker 1: that I necessarily wanted to jump on and cover, but

10
00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:46,400
Speaker 1: I feel it's an important one. Nuclear weapons are frequently

11
00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:50,560
Speaker 1: part of a discussion about global events and global politics,

12
00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:53,880
Speaker 1: and so I thought it would be useful to revisit

13
00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:57,560
Speaker 1: this classic episode where we talk about exactly how these

14
00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:03,639
Speaker 1: weapons work. So enjoy Today. We wanted to talk about

15
00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:07,200
Speaker 1: a subject that is, uh it's pretty terrifying. We're talking

16
00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:13,360
Speaker 1: about nuclear weapons. Yes, yes, nuclear, not nuclear. He was.

17
00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:15,640
Speaker 1: I was teasing him about this before and he said

18
00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:18,480
Speaker 1: that I better not. I'm not gonna say nuclear. I

19
00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:21,280
Speaker 1: mean other than just them. Um. Well, one of the

20
00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:23,880
Speaker 1: reasons I wanted to uh to talk about this today

21
00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:26,200
Speaker 1: is because it's been in the news a lot lately. Um.

22
00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:31,360
Speaker 1: Of course, uh iran um is rumored or depending on

23
00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:33,400
Speaker 1: whom you ask, more than rumored to be working on

24
00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:37,759
Speaker 1: nuclear weapons program and um, you know that that's been

25
00:01:37,959 --> 00:01:40,640
Speaker 1: a busy topic. I was about to say, a hot topic.

26
00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:43,440
Speaker 1: Let's not go there um lately, and I thought, well,

27
00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:46,400
Speaker 1: you know, why don't we We've never really talked about, um,

28
00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:53,000
Speaker 1: the technology that makes nuclear weapons possible. Um. And while

29
00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:58,680
Speaker 1: I'm not particularly fond of things that cause death and destruction, uh,

30
00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:01,400
Speaker 1: the the actual bombs themselves, how they make them work

31
00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:04,720
Speaker 1: is kind of interesting, and it's it's important stuff. I mean,

32
00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:06,120
Speaker 1: you know, there's a lot of there are a lot

33
00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:10,120
Speaker 1: of discussions about nuclear arms races. You know, we had

34
00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:13,519
Speaker 1: a famous nuclear arms race between the Soviet Union and

35
00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:18,359
Speaker 1: the United States during the Cold War, which uh started

36
00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:21,280
Speaker 1: to look like things were going to to improve, where

37
00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:24,680
Speaker 1: you know, both nations were starting to dismantle a lot

38
00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:28,160
Speaker 1: of their nuclear weapon programs. But then you've got other

39
00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:32,920
Speaker 1: countries like China and India and Pakistan and other countries

40
00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:35,960
Speaker 1: that are that have either have a nuclear weapons program

41
00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:39,600
Speaker 1: or developing. North Korea is another good example. They either

42
00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:43,480
Speaker 1: have a and a fully fledged out nuclear weapons program

43
00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:46,600
Speaker 1: or they're working on it. And uh, it adds a

44
00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:50,680
Speaker 1: lot of concern because these weapons potentially pack an enormous

45
00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:54,720
Speaker 1: punch and it's the kind of weapon that you know,

46
00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:58,160
Speaker 1: most weapons, you use them and then the uh, that

47
00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:01,880
Speaker 1: immediate moment, the aftermath, that's that's all you're dealing with.

48
00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:05,840
Speaker 1: And the aftermath is generally, you know, not not uh,

49
00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:08,440
Speaker 1: something that is perpetual, right, I mean, I mean, you

50
00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:10,640
Speaker 1: might have to do some massive clean up or whatever,

51
00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:14,040
Speaker 1: but that's it. Nuclear weapons are different, and that the

52
00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:19,120
Speaker 1: aftermath can be as destructive or maybe not as destructive,

53
00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:23,520
Speaker 1: but but destructive on their own beyond the initial blast.

54
00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:28,040
Speaker 1: And so plus plus it's possible that the uh, the

55
00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:34,239
Speaker 1: effects of the nuclear blast can carry across the terrain

56
00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:38,120
Speaker 1: to places that the US, as we'll find out in

57
00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:42,080
Speaker 1: in our discussion, um that people may not necessarily have

58
00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:45,240
Speaker 1: been planning on being affected. Yeah you might. You know,

59
00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:48,000
Speaker 1: it's not just the immediate area. It's not a precision

60
00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:52,440
Speaker 1: weapon and that Yeah, there's a precision blast area that

61
00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:54,680
Speaker 1: you're that you can be pretty sure is going to

62
00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:57,320
Speaker 1: be vaporized when you hit it, but then there's a

63
00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:01,200
Speaker 1: large area around that. Depending upon the climate and you know,

64
00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:04,440
Speaker 1: the specific weather conditions at that time, it could affect

65
00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:09,760
Speaker 1: neighboring countries, you know, essentially innocent bystandards to whatever. So

66
00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:13,920
Speaker 1: let's get into this. Let's talk first about atoms. Yeah,

67
00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:16,000
Speaker 1: I mean, you think about it that one of the

68
00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:20,479
Speaker 1: fascinating things about this is that such a devastating reaction

69
00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:25,279
Speaker 1: can be caused by something as tiny as an atom. Yeah. Uh.

70
00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:27,920
Speaker 1: And just so that we all have our little a

71
00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:30,960
Speaker 1: little refresher course, even though I'm sure no one listening

72
00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:36,080
Speaker 1: needs it. Your basic atom has a nucleus that is

73
00:04:36,279 --> 00:04:40,760
Speaker 1: orbited by electrons. Now your electrons are you're negatively charged particles. Yes,

74
00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:45,320
Speaker 1: your nucleus typically contains at least one proton. Actually it

75
00:04:45,320 --> 00:04:48,400
Speaker 1: has to otherwise it's not an atom. So the proton

76
00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:52,560
Speaker 1: is a positively charged particle, and the protons positive charge

77
00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:55,640
Speaker 1: in the electrons negative charge are attracted to one another.

78
00:04:56,520 --> 00:05:00,120
Speaker 1: It's pretty powerful. Now, there can also be in that

79
00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:05,760
Speaker 1: nucleus a a particle that carries no charge at all,

80
00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:10,440
Speaker 1: a neutron which has no charge, and neutrons kind of

81
00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:14,040
Speaker 1: act like glue for protons, because you know, you've got

82
00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:17,680
Speaker 1: this this nucleus that could have more than one proton. Well,

83
00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:21,200
Speaker 1: the problem is that as similar charges repel one another.

84
00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:24,600
Speaker 1: So if you have to possibly charged particles and try

85
00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:26,440
Speaker 1: and put them close to each other, they're going to

86
00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:28,640
Speaker 1: start repelling each other. Well, neutrons kind of act like

87
00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:32,720
Speaker 1: a glue that that allows these protons to group together

88
00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:38,640
Speaker 1: to form this nucleus. So, uh, if you've I'm getting

89
00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:40,120
Speaker 1: out of here. No, no, don't No, it's all right.

90
00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:44,000
Speaker 1: That's all right. Now you can change the number of

91
00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:48,200
Speaker 1: neutrons that are within an atom. And if you do that, uh,

92
00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:51,800
Speaker 1: you know, atoms have typically they have a number of

93
00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:55,479
Speaker 1: neutrons that you will naturally find within the atoms of

94
00:05:55,520 --> 00:05:59,320
Speaker 1: that element. Uh. If you find something that's outside of

95
00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:03,599
Speaker 1: that that either is gut either has more fewer neutrons,

96
00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:08,480
Speaker 1: it's an isotope. So isotopes of atoms are atoms that

97
00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:11,719
Speaker 1: contain a different number of neutrons than you would typically

98
00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:15,520
Speaker 1: find them in nature. Plus, isotopes are a baseball team

99
00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:19,760
Speaker 1: in springfield. That's also true. Now this is not to

100
00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:23,440
Speaker 1: be confused with ions. And ion is an atom that

101
00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:26,120
Speaker 1: has either gained or lost in electron, and so it

102
00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:30,440
Speaker 1: either has a positive charge or a negative charge because

103
00:06:30,480 --> 00:06:33,240
Speaker 1: of that. So of course if it's gained an electron,

104
00:06:33,279 --> 00:06:36,040
Speaker 1: then overall the atom has a negative charge if it's

105
00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:38,400
Speaker 1: lost in electron and overall the atom has a positive charge.

106
00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:43,000
Speaker 1: So that's the difference between ions and isotopes. Now isotopes

107
00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:48,080
Speaker 1: really that's what ends up being important in these nuclear weapons.

108
00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:51,280
Speaker 1: It's it's sort of a key feature. Um. Another thing

109
00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:54,159
Speaker 1: that's that's important to note is that for the most part,

110
00:06:54,279 --> 00:06:57,320
Speaker 1: atoms are pretty stable. Yes, I mean, once you get

111
00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:01,120
Speaker 1: them in their natural state, they're unlikely to change all

112
00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:05,039
Speaker 1: that much. They don't uh, randomly shed electrons or the

113
00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:07,440
Speaker 1: things unless some force acts on them. They just sort

114
00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:11,480
Speaker 1: of go along there about their business and stick to themselves, right,

115
00:07:11,480 --> 00:07:14,239
Speaker 1: because if they were if they were unstable, they would

116
00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:17,440
Speaker 1: very they would not necessarily very quickly. But if they

117
00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:21,760
Speaker 1: were unstable, they would change to become more stable over time.

118
00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:25,440
Speaker 1: That's what we call decay. So if you have an

119
00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:30,160
Speaker 1: atom that is unstable, it will eventually change to a

120
00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:32,600
Speaker 1: more stable form. And in the process of that, it's

121
00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:35,720
Speaker 1: going to give up some energy, uh, and it can

122
00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:39,600
Speaker 1: give up energy and in multiple ways. There's actually three

123
00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:45,440
Speaker 1: main types of radioactive decay, that's right. There's alpha decay,

124
00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:48,120
Speaker 1: which is where you've got your nucleus and it it's

125
00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:51,640
Speaker 1: going to kick out two protons and two neutrons bound together,

126
00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:55,720
Speaker 1: which is also called an alpha particle. Then you've got

127
00:07:55,840 --> 00:08:00,600
Speaker 1: beta decay. And this is where a neutron actually changes

128
00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:05,760
Speaker 1: becomes a proton. Uh. Then the neutron or the proton,

129
00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:09,800
Speaker 1: and the an electron and an anti anti neutrino are

130
00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:13,080
Speaker 1: all ejected together. That's the beta particle, or actually the

131
00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:17,000
Speaker 1: ejected electron is the beta particles specifically UM. So, yeah,

132
00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:20,720
Speaker 1: good all anti newtrinos I tell you they they go

133
00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:24,280
Speaker 1: opposite the as the speed of light. So we talked

134
00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:26,160
Speaker 1: about the whole new trinos whether or not they were

135
00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:27,560
Speaker 1: going faster than the speed of light with a large

136
00:08:27,560 --> 00:08:30,560
Speaker 1: hadron collider. Right now, it looks like they didn't. Looks

137
00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:34,040
Speaker 1: like that was all due to uh, some some issues

138
00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:38,719
Speaker 1: with the measuring technology looking at the scoreboard today, right,

139
00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:41,320
Speaker 1: which could change by the time this podcast gets out.

140
00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:45,000
Speaker 1: So the third type is spontaneous fission. Now, vision is

141
00:08:45,080 --> 00:08:50,720
Speaker 1: where you have a nucleus split into two pieces. It's

142
00:08:50,840 --> 00:08:54,479
Speaker 1: um the opposite of fusion. Fusion is where two nucleuses

143
00:08:54,559 --> 00:08:59,240
Speaker 1: come together and join. And both vision and fusion you

144
00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:02,800
Speaker 1: have a release of energy. Now for radioactive decay, we're

145
00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:07,400
Speaker 1: specifically talking about fission, not fusion. So in this the

146
00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:12,240
Speaker 1: nucleus splits and it might eject neutrons which can become

147
00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:17,840
Speaker 1: neutron raise, and it also can emit electromagnetic energy called

148
00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:23,880
Speaker 1: gamma raise, which do not talk about fantastic four. You're

149
00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:26,480
Speaker 1: looking at me like I was talking about some or

150
00:09:26,600 --> 00:09:29,520
Speaker 1: the Hulk. I was waiting for you to make that.

151
00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:32,200
Speaker 1: Actually I think it was cosmic rays with the fantastic

152
00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:35,480
Speaker 1: gamma radiation for the incredible Hulk. I don't want to

153
00:09:35,480 --> 00:09:40,120
Speaker 1: get my science wrong. You're absolutely scientific. My air quotes

154
00:09:40,440 --> 00:09:44,480
Speaker 1: science wrong. So yeah, gamma raise. It's interesting that they

155
00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:47,000
Speaker 1: are the only type of nuclear radiation that comes from

156
00:09:47,120 --> 00:09:51,120
Speaker 1: energy rather than particles. Yes, all right, I bet you

157
00:09:51,160 --> 00:09:53,160
Speaker 1: learned that on how stuff Works dot com. Yes, there's

158
00:09:53,200 --> 00:09:55,080
Speaker 1: a really good article about that. We we have. We

159
00:09:55,160 --> 00:09:56,840
Speaker 1: have a couple of articles on how stuff Works dot

160
00:09:56,880 --> 00:09:59,000
Speaker 1: Com that are going to be really useful as we

161
00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:02,600
Speaker 1: talk about this, include how nuclear weapons work, how nuclear

162
00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:08,160
Speaker 1: how nuclear radiation works, and also how there's an article

163
00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:10,720
Speaker 1: about the Manhattan Project. We'll talk about the Manhattan Project

164
00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:14,160
Speaker 1: in a little bit. So we've now got these three

165
00:10:14,160 --> 00:10:16,840
Speaker 1: different forms of radioactive decay, and we know about this

166
00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:20,760
Speaker 1: new the spontaneous fission. Well, what's interesting is that the

167
00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:24,960
Speaker 1: fission doesn't necessarily have to be spontaneous. If you find

168
00:10:25,080 --> 00:10:29,360
Speaker 1: the right kind of unstable atom and you are able

169
00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:34,840
Speaker 1: to bombard it with neutrons, then sometimes those atoms will

170
00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:38,160
Speaker 1: accept a neutron and in the process they will become

171
00:10:38,200 --> 00:10:41,600
Speaker 1: so unstable as that the nucleus itself will split apart,

172
00:10:41,960 --> 00:10:44,680
Speaker 1: and in that process the nucleus will release energy. It

173
00:10:44,760 --> 00:10:47,360
Speaker 1: also may release other neutrons, which means that if you

174
00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:50,440
Speaker 1: get a bunch of these unstable items together and you

175
00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:54,880
Speaker 1: shoot a neutron at them, and then that first that

176
00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:58,839
Speaker 1: first nucleus splits apart and more neutrons split off of it,

177
00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:02,280
Speaker 1: it can cause more of these unstable atoms to do

178
00:11:02,320 --> 00:11:04,840
Speaker 1: the same thing, and that's where you have a chain reaction.

179
00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:08,040
Speaker 1: I can't remember who it was that had that the

180
00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:12,520
Speaker 1: TV show where they had a clear plastic box and

181
00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:15,760
Speaker 1: on the bottom of the box they had uh mouse traps,

182
00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:18,760
Speaker 1: and each mouse traps, each mouse trap had two ping

183
00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:21,839
Speaker 1: pong balls on and those represented um the stable. Actually,

184
00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:25,120
Speaker 1: it's probably been done by five thousand people. Anyway. You

185
00:11:25,160 --> 00:11:28,480
Speaker 1: can find clips of the same sort of thing on

186
00:11:28,559 --> 00:11:30,920
Speaker 1: YouTube and then by lots of different people, and I

187
00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:34,640
Speaker 1: enjoy watching it because it's really an excellent demonstration. So

188
00:11:34,679 --> 00:11:37,640
Speaker 1: each of these these mouse trap atoms with its two

189
00:11:38,200 --> 00:11:42,040
Speaker 1: ping pong balls represents these unstable atoms, and it's so

190
00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:46,760
Speaker 1: and the ping pong balls represent the ejected neutrons exactly exactly,

191
00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:50,160
Speaker 1: and so uh, somebody else will drop a ping pong

192
00:11:50,200 --> 00:11:54,120
Speaker 1: ball inside a small hole in the box representing the

193
00:11:54,120 --> 00:11:56,720
Speaker 1: neutron in this case that is bombarding these these atoms.

194
00:11:57,040 --> 00:11:59,080
Speaker 1: And as soon as it hits one mouse trap and

195
00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:02,160
Speaker 1: sets it off, the pong balls from that one fly

196
00:12:02,360 --> 00:12:05,640
Speaker 1: in other directions, thereby setting off the other mouse traps.

197
00:12:05,840 --> 00:12:07,800
Speaker 1: And it all happens in a very very short period

198
00:12:07,800 --> 00:12:09,280
Speaker 1: of time. It takes almost no time at all for

199
00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:11,959
Speaker 1: this thing for all the the mouse traps to release

200
00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:14,720
Speaker 1: their part of ping pong balls. Yeah. Now, and in

201
00:12:14,760 --> 00:12:17,480
Speaker 1: the case of a nuclear weapon, these reactions are happening

202
00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:22,040
Speaker 1: in billions of a second. So now let's get to

203
00:12:22,200 --> 00:12:25,839
Speaker 1: the actual elements that are used in nuclear weaponry. So

204
00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:28,960
Speaker 1: one of them is an isotope of uranium, uranium two

205
00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:32,319
Speaker 1: thirty five. That's a very complex atom. Yeah, it's got

206
00:12:32,400 --> 00:12:36,080
Speaker 1: ninety two protons right, So, but it's got a hundreds

207
00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:40,079
Speaker 1: forty three neutrons. And the thing about this is that

208
00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:43,880
Speaker 1: it will accept a neutron. If if you bombard uranium

209
00:12:43,920 --> 00:12:47,160
Speaker 1: two thirty five, it very easily will accept that neutron.

210
00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:51,480
Speaker 1: Take that neutron, yeah, and then it it makes the

211
00:12:51,640 --> 00:12:54,560
Speaker 1: uranium unstable, and then it will split apart like I

212
00:12:54,600 --> 00:12:56,760
Speaker 1: just said in and you'll get that energy and those

213
00:12:57,400 --> 00:13:02,959
Speaker 1: other neutrons released. So that the problem the problem with this,

214
00:13:03,640 --> 00:13:06,800
Speaker 1: many problems with this. One of the issues that the

215
00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:11,680
Speaker 1: people who first started working on nuclear weapons technology encountered

216
00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:14,040
Speaker 1: was that, first of all, they weren't sure which elements

217
00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:17,200
Speaker 1: were going to react this way because not all of

218
00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:20,680
Speaker 1: them do, so finding the right elements was tricky. The

219
00:13:20,679 --> 00:13:25,720
Speaker 1: other part is that uranium two thirty five is relatively

220
00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:30,439
Speaker 1: rare compared to other isotopes of uranium. Yeah, so when

221
00:13:30,480 --> 00:13:34,880
Speaker 1: you find naturally occurring uranium, the uranium two thirty five

222
00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:40,560
Speaker 1: in that deposit is going to be relatively sparse, and

223
00:13:40,679 --> 00:13:44,440
Speaker 1: for a nuclear weapon to work, you need about uranium

224
00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:48,640
Speaker 1: two thirty five so that you have the right amount

225
00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:54,400
Speaker 1: of material to perpetuate this chain reaction. Otherwise, your your

226
00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:59,000
Speaker 1: atoms that are unstable, maybe too far apart from each

227
00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:01,800
Speaker 1: other for or that chine reaction to really take off.

228
00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:06,120
Speaker 1: Note to all the nuclear physicists who are righting, who

229
00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:09,040
Speaker 1: have paused to podcast and rode in to tell us

230
00:14:09,080 --> 00:14:11,000
Speaker 1: that there are other types of fuel that can be

231
00:14:11,080 --> 00:14:14,120
Speaker 1: used for nuclear weapons. Yes, we know that. However we're

232
00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:17,240
Speaker 1: using we're starting here, starting with uranium because that's where

233
00:14:17,280 --> 00:14:21,560
Speaker 1: that's where, that's where the scientists started. Yes, plutonium also used,

234
00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:23,880
Speaker 1: as well as their hydrogen bombs that we'll talk about

235
00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:26,520
Speaker 1: a little bit. But even hydrogen bombs use uranium and

236
00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:31,360
Speaker 1: plutonium um. It's just that they're they're using a different mechanism.

237
00:14:31,440 --> 00:14:36,120
Speaker 1: They're using confusion as opposed to vision. So uranium two

238
00:14:36,200 --> 00:14:39,800
Speaker 1: thirty five, you have to actually refine your your right,

239
00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:43,840
Speaker 1: your uranium. Wow, I can't talk today, but yes, you

240
00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:50,000
Speaker 1: must take uranium your uranium, yeah, toy boat anyway, you

241
00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:53,480
Speaker 1: have to take this uranium there we got that works

242
00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:56,560
Speaker 1: and refine it so that you have a higher percentage

243
00:14:56,560 --> 00:14:59,040
Speaker 1: of uranium two thirty five, which is what you hear

244
00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:01,160
Speaker 1: about when you when you hear about these these nations

245
00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:06,240
Speaker 1: like Iran with their nuclear program, you hear about are

246
00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:10,600
Speaker 1: they making uranium for power facilities or are they trying

247
00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:15,240
Speaker 1: to make weaponized uranium. This is talking about the enrichment process. Yes,

248
00:15:15,440 --> 00:15:18,960
Speaker 1: so if you are enriching, if you're if you're creating

249
00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:21,920
Speaker 1: uranium so that you've got a section of ranim that

250
00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:27,920
Speaker 1: is uranium that's indicative of a weapon, it's not. You

251
00:15:27,960 --> 00:15:31,200
Speaker 1: don't need that kind of concentration for a nuclear power facility.

252
00:15:31,520 --> 00:15:34,480
Speaker 1: So that's one of those things that that inspectors try

253
00:15:34,600 --> 00:15:38,200
Speaker 1: to determine when they go and look at a nuclear

254
00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:40,880
Speaker 1: power facility to make sure that the uranium being produced

255
00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:46,960
Speaker 1: is not weapons grade uranium. So anyway, that's the basis,

256
00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:51,720
Speaker 1: that's the basic science behind the fission part of nuclear weapons.

257
00:15:51,760 --> 00:15:54,840
Speaker 1: Will get into fusion in a second. So how did

258
00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:58,200
Speaker 1: this all come about? Well, first we have to look

259
00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:02,040
Speaker 1: at a fellow named Einstein. Now, Einstein came up with

260
00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:07,680
Speaker 1: that famous equation E equals MC squared the theory of relativity,

261
00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:12,000
Speaker 1: which states that energy is equal to mass times the

262
00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:14,760
Speaker 1: speed of light squared the constant of the speed of

263
00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:18,520
Speaker 1: light through a vacuum. As it turns out, so that

264
00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:22,680
Speaker 1: means that you take the you take a unit of mass,

265
00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:25,560
Speaker 1: you multiply it by the square of the speed of

266
00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:30,480
Speaker 1: light speed light squared rather and and then that's how

267
00:16:30,560 --> 00:16:34,000
Speaker 1: much energy you get from that mass. So this tells

268
00:16:34,080 --> 00:16:36,360
Speaker 1: us that a tiny little bit of mass could equate

269
00:16:36,400 --> 00:16:39,000
Speaker 1: to an enormous amount of energy because you're multiplying that

270
00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:44,840
Speaker 1: that unit of mass against a huge number. Well, that

271
00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:48,680
Speaker 1: starts leading people to think, well, this is true, then

272
00:16:48,720 --> 00:16:52,280
Speaker 1: there should be some way to tap into the stuff

273
00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:55,600
Speaker 1: that's around us and get at huge amounts of energy.

274
00:16:55,960 --> 00:16:58,080
Speaker 1: And you had a lot of really really smart people

275
00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:00,720
Speaker 1: working on this, and most of them were probably at

276
00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:03,160
Speaker 1: least initially working on this is the way of finding

277
00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:08,080
Speaker 1: a new energy source, not necessarily a weapon. However, World

278
00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:12,880
Speaker 1: War Two really helped push the the the the research

279
00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:16,000
Speaker 1: towards finding a way of using this in a military

280
00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:22,160
Speaker 1: application as opposed to to just a power generation alternative.

281
00:17:23,119 --> 00:17:26,480
Speaker 1: So then we go up to the nineteen thirties. You've

282
00:17:26,480 --> 00:17:31,240
Speaker 1: got a fellow named Enrico firm me and he support

283
00:17:31,320 --> 00:17:34,840
Speaker 1: on him in grade school. He's the one who discovered

284
00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:39,040
Speaker 1: that if you were to shoot neutrons at atoms, you

285
00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:43,520
Speaker 1: could sometimes form new elements, and they were including ones

286
00:17:43,560 --> 00:17:45,840
Speaker 1: that just did not show up on the periodic table

287
00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:49,000
Speaker 1: at all. So most of these are are atoms that

288
00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:52,760
Speaker 1: are so unstable that you know, they almost immediately decay.

289
00:17:52,800 --> 00:17:56,240
Speaker 1: But uh that he discovered that. And then a few

290
00:17:56,280 --> 00:17:59,159
Speaker 1: years later a pair of German scientists Otto Han and

291
00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:04,119
Speaker 1: Fritz straw Sman discovered that by bombarding uranium with neutrons

292
00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:08,080
Speaker 1: that they could create cause the uranium atoms to split.

293
00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:11,959
Speaker 1: So they're the ones who actually connected the concept of

294
00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:18,359
Speaker 1: fission with shooting neutrons at an isotope and uh it

295
00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:21,240
Speaker 1: actually created a radioactive barium isotope once they did that,

296
00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:23,440
Speaker 1: and that's how they discovered, oh, you know, this is

297
00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:26,439
Speaker 1: what happens if you do this, then you have a

298
00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:29,240
Speaker 1: couple of other There are so many famous names that

299
00:18:29,280 --> 00:18:32,480
Speaker 1: we could mention that worked on this, but Neil's Bore

300
00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:36,600
Speaker 1: and John Wheeler started to theorize that if you were

301
00:18:36,640 --> 00:18:39,880
Speaker 1: to create a fission reaction within enough of this material,

302
00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:43,880
Speaker 1: you could cause a chain reaction, and if you were

303
00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:46,200
Speaker 1: to contain this in some way, you could have a

304
00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:51,560
Speaker 1: controlled nuclear reaction which would generate huge amounts of energy. Uh. Now,

305
00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:56,719
Speaker 1: a controlled nuclear reaction could allow you to have uh power,

306
00:18:57,040 --> 00:18:59,720
Speaker 1: or a controlled nuclear reaction that then results in an

307
00:18:59,800 --> 00:19:04,280
Speaker 1: un controlled explosion is a weapon, it's a bomb. You know,

308
00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:07,360
Speaker 1: I'm sort of reminded of our our discussion of quantum computing,

309
00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:11,080
Speaker 1: which also works with Adams UM. But the thing is

310
00:19:11,119 --> 00:19:14,480
Speaker 1: that figuring out the predict predictability if you happen to

311
00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:18,000
Speaker 1: listen to that podcast of where the particle will go

312
00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:22,080
Speaker 1: and in what direction UM is not always possible. That's

313
00:19:22,119 --> 00:19:24,600
Speaker 1: one of the things that makes quantum cryptography so useful.

314
00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:28,199
Speaker 1: But yeah, in this case, UM, it's kind of scary

315
00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:30,560
Speaker 1: because if you imagine that this this reaction is going

316
00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:34,000
Speaker 1: to unleash a large amount of power, or maybe it won't.

317
00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:37,600
Speaker 1: You know, that's that can be a little scary because

318
00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:40,240
Speaker 1: you don't know for sure exactly what's gonna happen when

319
00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:42,600
Speaker 1: you do this. Is which is why UM. You know,

320
00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:47,040
Speaker 1: they started doing experiments like you know, Columbia University in

321
00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:50,800
Speaker 1: UM up in New York. They starting to mess around

322
00:19:50,800 --> 00:19:52,200
Speaker 1: with this to see if they can make it work.

323
00:19:52,680 --> 00:19:56,160
Speaker 1: University of Chicago squash court. Yes, yes, now that's funny

324
00:19:56,200 --> 00:20:01,199
Speaker 1: because of underground underneath the fame stag field there at

325
00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:05,080
Speaker 1: the University of Chicago. UM they were Enrico Fermi finally

326
00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:09,919
Speaker 1: got it to work in controlled situation. UM. So you know, again,

327
00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:13,480
Speaker 1: what what if it weren't controlled that might have been

328
00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:16,439
Speaker 1: a little scary, but uh, you know, he got it

329
00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:18,639
Speaker 1: to to to do what they thought. And this this

330
00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:22,199
Speaker 1: was important because um again this is they realized that

331
00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:27,000
Speaker 1: this could be a seriously potent weapon that they could

332
00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:30,080
Speaker 1: be building. So um they realized that if they could

333
00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:33,000
Speaker 1: harness this and do this in a controlled way, you know,

334
00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:36,000
Speaker 1: then they could turn it to their advantage. Um. Around

335
00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:40,960
Speaker 1: the same time that work was being done on uranium

336
00:20:41,520 --> 00:20:45,560
Speaker 1: uh and and nuclear fission, scientists over at the University

337
00:20:45,560 --> 00:20:50,960
Speaker 1: of California at Berkeley back in one discovered a new element,

338
00:20:51,840 --> 00:20:55,920
Speaker 1: element ninety four uh and they thought that this could

339
00:20:55,960 --> 00:21:01,040
Speaker 1: also work as a potential fuel for nuclear chain reactions.

340
00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:08,840
Speaker 1: And this element they named plutonium and named for the dog. Yes,

341
00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:12,199
Speaker 1: it was named for the dog the it took it

342
00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:17,119
Speaker 1: took his name for the Roman god. But yeah, it

343
00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:21,560
Speaker 1: was a year later they had actually produced enough plutonium

344
00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:24,280
Speaker 1: to finally do some experiments on it, because it was

345
00:21:24,359 --> 00:21:27,119
Speaker 1: not something that was easily found, which I guess we

346
00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:31,720
Speaker 1: should all be thankful for. Um. And they they figured

347
00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:36,240
Speaker 1: out that plutonium also would undergo fission when bombarded by neutrons.

348
00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:41,879
Speaker 1: You know, we should talk about the criticality of about

349
00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:45,639
Speaker 1: the of the the atoms themselves, because the thing is

350
00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:50,080
Speaker 1: um say, say you have your your creative mousetratched and

351
00:21:50,119 --> 00:21:52,280
Speaker 1: ping pong balls. You have to make sure that nothing

352
00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:55,600
Speaker 1: is going to set it off before you mean to

353
00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:57,960
Speaker 1: set it off. Yeah, you don't want to have something

354
00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:02,880
Speaker 1: jostle that that's some and have it all go off prematurely.

355
00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:05,440
Speaker 1: And of course with a nuclear bomb, this is truly

356
00:22:05,600 --> 00:22:09,159
Speaker 1: important because of the the just the enormous amount of

357
00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:13,600
Speaker 1: damage that it could it could, it could cause. We

358
00:22:13,680 --> 00:22:16,280
Speaker 1: have more to say in this classic episode of tech stuff,

359
00:22:16,320 --> 00:22:18,800
Speaker 1: but before we get into that, let's take a quick

360
00:22:18,840 --> 00:22:29,960
Speaker 1: break to thank our sponsor. There's a couple different concepts here.

361
00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:34,320
Speaker 1: There's a concept called critical mass, which is the minimum

362
00:22:34,359 --> 00:22:38,280
Speaker 1: amount of mass necessary for you to have a sustain

363
00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:43,560
Speaker 1: nuclear fission reaction. And then there's the subcritical mass, which

364
00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:48,000
Speaker 1: is where you've got lower than that amount, And ideally

365
00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:50,400
Speaker 1: what you want is to have lower than that amount

366
00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:54,040
Speaker 1: up until the point where you actually want to detonate

367
00:22:54,080 --> 00:22:57,840
Speaker 1: the bomb. Yes, because that's going to keep it as

368
00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:01,040
Speaker 1: safe as you can you can get it. So there

369
00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:04,000
Speaker 1: were a lot of challenges in trying to find a

370
00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:08,280
Speaker 1: way to create a bomb where you had the material

371
00:23:08,720 --> 00:23:12,240
Speaker 1: set up as subcritical until the moment of detonation where

372
00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:14,920
Speaker 1: it would convert to a critical mass so that that

373
00:23:15,359 --> 00:23:19,119
Speaker 1: nuclear reaction would remain sustained within it. Otherwise your bomb

374
00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:23,399
Speaker 1: would still be dangerous. So it's still emit radiation. It

375
00:23:23,480 --> 00:23:25,560
Speaker 1: was still a middle lot of energy. It just wouldn't

376
00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:29,359
Speaker 1: cause as much damage as it was designed to do.

377
00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:32,320
Speaker 1: Right now, now, critical mass is, as Jonathan said, the

378
00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:37,440
Speaker 1: minimum amount needed to to achieve the fish and reaction. Now. Uh,

379
00:23:37,640 --> 00:23:40,840
Speaker 1: ideally for a for a bomb condition, if you're you're

380
00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:43,680
Speaker 1: trying to do this, um, you would want the fuel

381
00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:46,760
Speaker 1: to be in a supercritical mass, which basically means there's

382
00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:50,120
Speaker 1: more than enough necessary to achieve the fish and reaction.

383
00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:55,480
Speaker 1: Um uh you know, because in this case it just

384
00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:58,320
Speaker 1: applies and plenty. You want to make sure that it's

385
00:23:58,320 --> 00:24:00,919
Speaker 1: going to happen. You don't wanna, you don't want to

386
00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:05,239
Speaker 1: have it where through some weird set of circumstances, just

387
00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:11,600
Speaker 1: some improbable but possible outcome that the bomb that as

388
00:24:11,680 --> 00:24:14,719
Speaker 1: a smaller percentage of the reactions takes place than you

389
00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:17,280
Speaker 1: had anticipated, because that means that the effect is going

390
00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:19,959
Speaker 1: to be smaller than you had anticipated. And if you're

391
00:24:19,960 --> 00:24:22,920
Speaker 1: gonna be building something as nasty and dangerous as a

392
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:27,000
Speaker 1: nuclear weapon, you kind of want it to be effective. Yes, Yeah.

393
00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:30,640
Speaker 1: The point is again to to operate it when it's

394
00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:33,320
Speaker 1: going to achieve the desired effect and not before, and

395
00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:35,280
Speaker 1: which is really I mean, this is where it gets

396
00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:37,320
Speaker 1: hard to talk about this, because the desired effect is

397
00:24:37,359 --> 00:24:41,639
Speaker 1: so mind numbingly awful. I'm trying to speak of it

398
00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:46,000
Speaker 1: in any scientific, clinical sense. Yeah, it's it's a little rough.

399
00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:51,280
Speaker 1: So there there are two different ways to create a

400
00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:58,200
Speaker 1: supercritical mass within a fission based bomb. Uh. And actually

401
00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:01,400
Speaker 1: both of these ways were used in first two nuclear

402
00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:05,320
Speaker 1: weapons ever actually used in battle. Um. One of the

403
00:25:05,359 --> 00:25:08,840
Speaker 1: things that I think of is uh again in in

404
00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:11,360
Speaker 1: a clinical sense, but it's it's still kind of amusing

405
00:25:11,359 --> 00:25:14,800
Speaker 1: to me, is in reading about this. Um. The nuclear

406
00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:18,040
Speaker 1: weapons that were detonated in Japan too, uh, or I

407
00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:21,919
Speaker 1: should say over Japan to UM end the Second World

408
00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:25,679
Speaker 1: War were really I mean, it seems like, well, they

409
00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:28,520
Speaker 1: did what they were intended to do, but they were

410
00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:32,480
Speaker 1: really more like lab experiments packed in a case and

411
00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:35,119
Speaker 1: and and created. So I mean, now things are are

412
00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:38,840
Speaker 1: pretty standardized. But the two those two weapons were very

413
00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:42,360
Speaker 1: different and the way they did things and uh and

414
00:25:42,359 --> 00:25:45,720
Speaker 1: really they the scientists weren't dent certain that they were

415
00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:47,600
Speaker 1: going to do what they thought they were gonna do. Yeah,

416
00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:49,560
Speaker 1: and those two weapons were called going to do this,

417
00:25:49,600 --> 00:25:52,880
Speaker 1: we're called Little Boy and fat Man. Yes, little Boy

418
00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:55,959
Speaker 1: was the one that was dropped on Hiroshima on August six, nineteen,

419
00:25:56,920 --> 00:26:00,240
Speaker 1: and Fat Man was dropped over Nagasaki on August nine, ninth.

420
00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:04,840
Speaker 1: So these two use two different methods to initiate this

421
00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:09,440
Speaker 1: supercritical mass and begin the nuclear fission process. A Little

422
00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:15,280
Speaker 1: Boy used what was was called a bullet. It's uh, you,

423
00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:17,639
Speaker 1: in order to start this whole reaction, you have to

424
00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:20,640
Speaker 1: have something that's going to create neutrons. And in this case,

425
00:26:20,680 --> 00:26:24,520
Speaker 1: it actually was a bullet, although not you know, in

426
00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:26,800
Speaker 1: the sense of a gun. The gun that fired it

427
00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:28,200
Speaker 1: was not the kind of gun that we would think

428
00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:31,840
Speaker 1: of necessarily, right, This was a So you take take

429
00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:35,280
Speaker 1: a ball of uranium two thirty five, all right, and

430
00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:38,960
Speaker 1: then you take a small amount of that two out

431
00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:42,320
Speaker 1: as a bullet. It's a projectile. It's placed at one

432
00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:44,560
Speaker 1: end of a long tube. It's got explosives, behind it.

433
00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:46,960
Speaker 1: So when the explosives go off, it propels the bullet

434
00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:51,320
Speaker 1: down the tube until it impacts the sphere of your

435
00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:55,439
Speaker 1: aim two five at the other end. And uh so

436
00:26:56,160 --> 00:26:58,920
Speaker 1: the here's how it. Here's what happens. The explosives fire,

437
00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:02,040
Speaker 1: the bullet goes down the barrel, the bullet hits the sphere,

438
00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:05,240
Speaker 1: and it hits a neutron generator. Like I said, you

439
00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:09,160
Speaker 1: have to have neutrons to start this fission process. So

440
00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:13,400
Speaker 1: just dropping uranium two thirty five, that's not that's not

441
00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:17,919
Speaker 1: going to cause a huge explosion. But by creating these

442
00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:22,800
Speaker 1: neutrons with this neutron generator, uh, it ends up starting

443
00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:26,560
Speaker 1: off that that series of reactions within the bomb. So

444
00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:29,400
Speaker 1: once those neutrons are generating, starts saying the uranium two

445
00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:34,040
Speaker 1: thirty five, the fission reaction begins. The individual atoms of

446
00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:37,399
Speaker 1: uranium two starts to split, and they too start to

447
00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:41,359
Speaker 1: eject neutrons, which causes more uranium two thirty five to split,

448
00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:45,399
Speaker 1: and that reaction continues and the energy builds up until

449
00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:49,000
Speaker 1: the bomb explodes. So that was the little Boy version,

450
00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:51,920
Speaker 1: by the way, in case you're wondering how little Little

451
00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:56,520
Speaker 1: Boy was, uh it was. It well it was able

452
00:27:56,680 --> 00:28:00,800
Speaker 1: to drop a bomb that was equivalent to fourteen point

453
00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:10,480
Speaker 1: five kilo tons of TNT. Oh wait no, umah, so yeah,

454
00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:14,719
Speaker 1: so little is a as a relative term. And then

455
00:28:14,760 --> 00:28:17,440
Speaker 1: we have fat Man. Now fat Man used an implosion

456
00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:20,840
Speaker 1: triggered bomb. Yes, this is this is different from the

457
00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:25,000
Speaker 1: bullet method. And what happens here is you've got a

458
00:28:25,240 --> 00:28:28,600
Speaker 1: sphere of the nuclear fuel. So in this case again

459
00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:33,920
Speaker 1: uranium to thirty five and then you have plutonium to

460
00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:38,400
Speaker 1: thirty nine core. Inside that and and and surrounding the

461
00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:43,840
Speaker 1: two nine core are some explosives. So what happens is

462
00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:46,440
Speaker 1: in this bomb, the the sequence of events is the

463
00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:50,640
Speaker 1: explosives around the plutonium uh fires and that creates a

464
00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:55,280
Speaker 1: shock wave. The shock wave ends up compressing that plutonium

465
00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:59,480
Speaker 1: to thirty nine, and that compression is what triggers the

466
00:28:59,640 --> 00:29:04,280
Speaker 1: fish and reaction within the plutonium. That reaction becomes a

467
00:29:04,360 --> 00:29:07,080
Speaker 1: chain reaction again and the energy is build up and

468
00:29:07,120 --> 00:29:11,240
Speaker 1: then the bomb explodes. So the whole way that this

469
00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:14,520
Speaker 1: works is that it it creates and then directs that

470
00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:18,440
Speaker 1: shock way from the uninitial explosion to generate that first

471
00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:22,280
Speaker 1: fission reaction that becomes the chain reaction. So yeah, a

472
00:29:22,360 --> 00:29:24,760
Speaker 1: little different from the bullet method. Uh, and it was

473
00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:26,880
Speaker 1: it was interesting, you know, both of these methods were

474
00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:30,080
Speaker 1: being worked on at the same time during the Manhattan Project.

475
00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:34,640
Speaker 1: And uh, actually the implosion triggered bomb. As I understand,

476
00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:37,800
Speaker 1: it was the very first method that was tested. Who's

477
00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:41,880
Speaker 1: the trinity bomb that was tested, um back in Los Alamos,

478
00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:46,720
Speaker 1: which was not a prime real estate if back in

479
00:29:46,800 --> 00:29:48,880
Speaker 1: that time because of all the nuclear testing they did.

480
00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:52,240
Speaker 1: In fact, back when they did that first nuclear bomb test,

481
00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:55,560
Speaker 1: no one really knew what the result was going to be, right,

482
00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:58,360
Speaker 1: I mean, there's just no way of knowing. And uh,

483
00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:00,760
Speaker 1: it turned out that several of the scientists who are

484
00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:06,400
Speaker 1: observing the nuclear bomb test back in Los Alamos temporarily

485
00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:10,240
Speaker 1: lost their vision because the the explosion was so bright

486
00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:13,920
Speaker 1: that it damaged their eyes. But they were able to

487
00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:18,320
Speaker 1: recover their vision after a while. But people didn't know

488
00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:21,040
Speaker 1: how powerful this was going to be, how intense the

489
00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:23,680
Speaker 1: energy was going to be, and so they were viewing

490
00:30:23,720 --> 00:30:26,520
Speaker 1: it with their naked eye, and that turned out to

491
00:30:27,560 --> 00:30:32,000
Speaker 1: be a mistake, right. And of course, uh, an explosion

492
00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:36,680
Speaker 1: of that magnitude also spreads radioactive material over a very large,

493
00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:41,960
Speaker 1: uh physical space, so uh, you know, we were talking

494
00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:44,560
Speaker 1: about that a few minutes ago. When there is a

495
00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:47,600
Speaker 1: nuclear explosion like this, if there is UM, you know,

496
00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:52,040
Speaker 1: it spreads nuclear material out over an area. Basically you

497
00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:55,360
Speaker 1: could think of it in roughly if you're taking weather

498
00:30:55,640 --> 00:30:58,000
Speaker 1: out of the picture. UM, you know, you would have

499
00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:03,760
Speaker 1: a huge circular ish area over which this material is spread. Now,

500
00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:07,240
Speaker 1: of course, if the wind is blowing um, you know,

501
00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:10,360
Speaker 1: or you know, the temperature is right, the the material

502
00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:15,000
Speaker 1: can drift along with the wind. It can uh, you know,

503
00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:18,720
Speaker 1: get into water supplies, it can you know, cover it

504
00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:21,720
Speaker 1: can move quite a bit UM. And you know, the

505
00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:26,280
Speaker 1: the effects the physical effects of course, UM. You know,

506
00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:29,520
Speaker 1: there's there can be a lot more than just h

507
00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:33,000
Speaker 1: vision problems. I mean there's there's there's cancer has been

508
00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:36,600
Speaker 1: attributed to it. UM. There have band cancers attributed to

509
00:31:36,680 --> 00:31:41,160
Speaker 1: it UM and many many other physical conditions UM related

510
00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:44,400
Speaker 1: to that. So it's not just the people who are atomized,

511
00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:47,440
Speaker 1: if you will, by the bomb right as they are.

512
00:31:47,600 --> 00:31:50,040
Speaker 1: They happen to being close enough proximity that it can

513
00:31:50,120 --> 00:31:52,880
Speaker 1: have long lasting effects on on many many other people

514
00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:57,240
Speaker 1: and can make the area radioactive for many many years

515
00:31:57,280 --> 00:32:02,760
Speaker 1: to come. These these elements that are experiencing radioactive decay.

516
00:32:03,600 --> 00:32:07,880
Speaker 1: They can be in this state for hundreds of years,

517
00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:12,120
Speaker 1: depending on the materials. The Yeah, the essential if you

518
00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:15,720
Speaker 1: are if you're at ground zero of a nuclear explosion,

519
00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:19,440
Speaker 1: which is which is essentially right at the center of

520
00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:24,920
Speaker 1: the explosion, the the the location of the detonation. Essentially, um.

521
00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:31,080
Speaker 1: The the thing that would kill you be the heat.

522
00:32:31,880 --> 00:32:33,720
Speaker 1: The heat would be so intense that you would you

523
00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:37,720
Speaker 1: would be essentially vaporized. Um. But following the heat is

524
00:32:37,760 --> 00:32:41,040
Speaker 1: the pressure that's created from the shock wave of the explosion.

525
00:32:41,840 --> 00:32:43,840
Speaker 1: And so let's say that you're far enough out where

526
00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:45,720
Speaker 1: you're not going to be vaporized by that heat, that

527
00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:48,000
Speaker 1: pressure could be enough to knock over the building you're

528
00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:52,400
Speaker 1: in totally. It could crush you. So you have that

529
00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:55,040
Speaker 1: to look forward to. Then you've got, like like Chris

530
00:32:55,160 --> 00:32:58,760
Speaker 1: was saying, the radiation and the radioactive fallout, So you

531
00:32:58,800 --> 00:33:01,080
Speaker 1: can think of that's sort of a bull sye target, right,

532
00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:03,120
Speaker 1: Like the very center of that target is where the

533
00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:05,480
Speaker 1: heat is going to be the most intense. Just outside

534
00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:09,160
Speaker 1: of that is the general area where the pressure from

535
00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:11,680
Speaker 1: the shock wave is going to be intense enough to

536
00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:15,880
Speaker 1: be deadly. Just outside of that is the radiation where

537
00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:18,400
Speaker 1: the radiation could be strong enough where you're you could

538
00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:23,560
Speaker 1: suffer severe radiation sickness, uh, just from the exposure from that.

539
00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:28,560
Speaker 1: And then the radioactive fallout could affect the largest area, right,

540
00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:31,040
Speaker 1: And like you were saying, the weather can end up

541
00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:35,600
Speaker 1: carrying particles that have uh this radioactivity to them and

542
00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:39,120
Speaker 1: contaminate other areas miles and miles away from the site

543
00:33:39,160 --> 00:33:43,080
Speaker 1: of the bombing. It can affect living cells, uh, you know,

544
00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:47,840
Speaker 1: preventing them from behaving normally. I mean, they can cause

545
00:33:47,920 --> 00:33:51,800
Speaker 1: birth defects in in future generations. UM. So this is

546
00:33:52,240 --> 00:33:56,040
Speaker 1: this is very very serious stuff, of course. Um. Now

547
00:33:56,400 --> 00:33:59,000
Speaker 1: later after the wasn't one of the things that they

548
00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:03,200
Speaker 1: realized after uh using these weapons was these these fission

549
00:34:03,240 --> 00:34:06,920
Speaker 1: bombs work very well. Obviously they're very effective. But um

550
00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:11,080
Speaker 1: they began thinking that, uh, perhaps fusion would be a

551
00:34:11,200 --> 00:34:14,160
Speaker 1: more effective or create a more effective weapon. And that's

552
00:34:14,239 --> 00:34:18,759
Speaker 1: the course they began following, right, And they in some

553
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:21,320
Speaker 1: cases they first started looking at fusion. Back in n

554
00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:25,280
Speaker 1: there was a physicist by the name of Edward Teller,

555
00:34:25,960 --> 00:34:28,960
Speaker 1: and he came up with an idea called boosting. And

556
00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:32,080
Speaker 1: this is a process where you create a fusion reaction

557
00:34:32,640 --> 00:34:36,000
Speaker 1: in order to generate neutrons, and those neutrons then go

558
00:34:36,160 --> 00:34:42,879
Speaker 1: on to create a fission reaction. So it's a hybrid really. Uh. Now,

559
00:34:43,480 --> 00:34:45,399
Speaker 1: like we said, fusion is where you've got the two

560
00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:49,440
Speaker 1: atoms that combined together to form a heavier single atom,

561
00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:52,600
Speaker 1: and in that process it gives off quite a bit

562
00:34:52,640 --> 00:34:57,239
Speaker 1: of energy. Uh. And you can use different kinds of

563
00:34:57,280 --> 00:34:59,719
Speaker 1: atoms to do this, but typically in a thermonuclear weapon

564
00:34:59,760 --> 00:35:05,400
Speaker 1: where talking about hydrogen and hydrogen has different isotopes, right,

565
00:35:05,480 --> 00:35:11,399
Speaker 1: there's uh, deuterium and tritium. Yes, and this is all talk.

566
00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:16,960
Speaker 1: Normally a hydrogen atom uh just has the one proton, Yes,

567
00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:19,560
Speaker 1: But if you add the if you start adding neutrons,

568
00:35:19,600 --> 00:35:24,240
Speaker 1: then you get deuterium and tritium. And deuterium is stable.

569
00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:27,560
Speaker 1: If you have a deuterium atom, it's stable. It's not

570
00:35:27,640 --> 00:35:32,520
Speaker 1: gonna decay. You can actually create water with deuterium, but

571
00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:36,880
Speaker 1: it will in in enough, in large enough amounts. Deuterium

572
00:35:36,960 --> 00:35:39,560
Speaker 1: is toxic, so it's not something you want to have

573
00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:43,520
Speaker 1: around you. Uh. Is that heavy water? Is that heavy?

574
00:35:43,800 --> 00:35:46,080
Speaker 1: You know what I couldn't tell you I remember about

575
00:35:46,120 --> 00:35:50,919
Speaker 1: heavy water? Is uh from Batman? It would it would,

576
00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:54,680
Speaker 1: but then you think, you know, it would make sense

577
00:35:54,760 --> 00:35:56,839
Speaker 1: in a in a in a sense because deuterium, you've

578
00:35:56,880 --> 00:35:59,000
Speaker 1: got the neutron at it, which means that the actual

579
00:35:59,160 --> 00:36:03,359
Speaker 1: atom itself is heavier, which means any molecule created out

580
00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:05,279
Speaker 1: of that atom that would take the place of the

581
00:36:05,560 --> 00:36:09,680
Speaker 1: normal isotope or the the the natural state of that

582
00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:13,879
Speaker 1: atom would be intern heavier. Sorry, you can keep talking.

583
00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:16,560
Speaker 1: This is one of those times when, uh, it's something

584
00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:18,719
Speaker 1: didn't click to me until we were actually talking about it.

585
00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:20,680
Speaker 1: I'll let's see if I can find something. And I'm

586
00:36:20,719 --> 00:36:23,359
Speaker 1: not a nuclear physicist, so I honestly can't answer all

587
00:36:23,360 --> 00:36:25,600
Speaker 1: those questions off top of my head. But tritium is

588
00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:31,520
Speaker 1: not uh stable, it will it will decaytive relatively quickly.

589
00:36:31,680 --> 00:36:34,800
Speaker 1: So it's a bit of a challenge. But what what

590
00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:39,400
Speaker 1: is it, Chris, Yes, d t O deuterium. It's it's

591
00:36:39,440 --> 00:36:44,000
Speaker 1: water made with deuterium. There you go. And so trying

592
00:36:44,040 --> 00:36:47,280
Speaker 1: to create a effusion bomb is a little bit tricky

593
00:36:47,680 --> 00:36:52,040
Speaker 1: because tritium is one of those elements that is typically

594
00:36:52,160 --> 00:36:55,120
Speaker 1: used in these but it is not it's not easy

595
00:36:55,160 --> 00:36:58,520
Speaker 1: to store, and it's uh got a very short half life.

596
00:36:58,600 --> 00:37:03,200
Speaker 1: So so if you have the problem with storage and

597
00:37:03,400 --> 00:37:06,440
Speaker 1: how do you keep tritium stable so that you can

598
00:37:07,080 --> 00:37:10,759
Speaker 1: have a fusion reaction in order to start off the

599
00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:14,919
Speaker 1: fission that's going to ultimately lead to this destructive force.

600
00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:20,400
Speaker 1: Scientists came up with a fairly creative solution. First, they

601
00:37:20,719 --> 00:37:24,680
Speaker 1: created a lithium deuter rate, which is a solid compound,

602
00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:27,920
Speaker 1: and it does not have the problem of undergoing radioactive

603
00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:31,640
Speaker 1: decay at room temperatures, at normal temperatures or even you know,

604
00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:35,840
Speaker 1: normal operating temperatures of a nuclear bomb until you detonated.

605
00:37:36,400 --> 00:37:38,520
Speaker 1: We've got a bit more to say about how nuclear

606
00:37:38,600 --> 00:37:41,480
Speaker 1: weapons work, but before we jump into that last segment,

607
00:37:41,600 --> 00:37:52,040
Speaker 1: let's take another quick break to thank our sponsor. With

608
00:37:52,160 --> 00:37:58,000
Speaker 1: the tritium problem, they began to rely upon a reaction

609
00:37:58,080 --> 00:38:02,600
Speaker 1: of fission reaction which will produced tritium from lithium. So

610
00:38:02,760 --> 00:38:06,440
Speaker 1: first they have to induce a fission reaction with the lithium,

611
00:38:07,160 --> 00:38:10,640
Speaker 1: and then the lithium in turn will produce tritium, and

612
00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:14,759
Speaker 1: then you've got the uh chance, You've got the the

613
00:38:15,400 --> 00:38:18,080
Speaker 1: the right elements in place to have the fusion reaction,

614
00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:22,439
Speaker 1: so you have fission to fusion to fission again to boom. Yes,

615
00:38:23,160 --> 00:38:26,800
Speaker 1: it's a little complicated, right, and uh, that fission reaction

616
00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:29,000
Speaker 1: with lithium, it also gives off a lot of X rays,

617
00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:32,839
Speaker 1: and the X rays are actually what allow uh. Well,

618
00:38:32,880 --> 00:38:35,479
Speaker 1: the X rays end up increasing the temperature within the bomb,

619
00:38:35,960 --> 00:38:39,680
Speaker 1: all right, And those that increased temperature and the pressures

620
00:38:39,760 --> 00:38:43,000
Speaker 1: that are associated with it are the that's the energy

621
00:38:43,080 --> 00:38:45,399
Speaker 1: that goes into the system that allows fusion to happen.

622
00:38:45,440 --> 00:38:47,280
Speaker 1: Because this is one of the tricky things about fusion.

623
00:38:47,719 --> 00:38:50,560
Speaker 1: You gotta pour energy into the system in order diffused

624
00:38:50,600 --> 00:38:55,040
Speaker 1: two atoms together, right, And the components of the bomb

625
00:38:55,120 --> 00:38:59,600
Speaker 1: are separated by casings that prevent accidental or or or

626
00:38:59,719 --> 00:39:05,600
Speaker 1: maybe premature detonation, so that that initial explosion uh and

627
00:39:05,800 --> 00:39:11,920
Speaker 1: causing the X rays basically uh causes the deterioration of

628
00:39:12,120 --> 00:39:16,560
Speaker 1: those materials and allows the bomb to continue detonating. Yeah.

629
00:39:16,960 --> 00:39:20,839
Speaker 1: So let's it's it's it's a little competed to talk

630
00:39:20,840 --> 00:39:24,759
Speaker 1: about this without an illustration. Yes, But the way this

631
00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:28,360
Speaker 1: fusion bomb would work is that you've got an implosion

632
00:39:28,640 --> 00:39:32,600
Speaker 1: fission bomb with the cylinder casing of uranium two thirty eight,

633
00:39:32,680 --> 00:39:34,640
Speaker 1: which is acting as a tamper. A tamper is the

634
00:39:34,760 --> 00:39:38,839
Speaker 1: thing that is controlling this reaction so that you get

635
00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:43,240
Speaker 1: as much energy involved before it actually unleashes an energy

636
00:39:44,080 --> 00:39:48,759
Speaker 1: um The within inside that that tamper of uranium two

637
00:39:48,800 --> 00:39:52,440
Speaker 1: thirty eight is the lithium deuteride, and there's also a

638
00:39:52,520 --> 00:39:55,040
Speaker 1: hollow rod of plutonium two thirty nine in the very

639
00:39:55,160 --> 00:40:00,520
Speaker 1: center of all that. And then separating this this cylinder

640
00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:03,799
Speaker 1: of a tamper of the the uranium two eight from

641
00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:08,279
Speaker 1: the implosion bomb is the shield of uranium and some

642
00:40:08,520 --> 00:40:14,040
Speaker 1: plastic foam. And this is what once you start detonating

643
00:40:14,120 --> 00:40:17,040
Speaker 1: at the sequence of events, is that the fission bomb.

644
00:40:17,920 --> 00:40:22,440
Speaker 1: So that first explosion goes off and this generates the

645
00:40:22,520 --> 00:40:24,920
Speaker 1: really intense X rays which increased the temperature and the

646
00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:30,080
Speaker 1: pressure within the bomb. Uh the shield, that uranium two

647
00:40:30,120 --> 00:40:33,560
Speaker 1: thirty shield with the foam, it actually is what keeps

648
00:40:33,640 --> 00:40:37,200
Speaker 1: that contains that that explosion so that it does not

649
00:40:37,640 --> 00:40:40,880
Speaker 1: prematurely detonate the rest of the fuel. But the heat

650
00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:44,439
Speaker 1: causes the tamper, that cylinder of the uranium two thirty

651
00:40:44,480 --> 00:40:47,280
Speaker 1: eight to start to expand and it begins to burn away.

652
00:40:47,800 --> 00:40:50,800
Speaker 1: It starts to put more pressure on the lithium deuterate,

653
00:40:51,440 --> 00:40:55,920
Speaker 1: which is squeezed so hard that it causes shock waves

654
00:40:56,000 --> 00:40:58,880
Speaker 1: that initiate fission within the plutonium rod. So here's you

655
00:40:59,120 --> 00:41:02,439
Speaker 1: got your second fission reaction. So you've got the first

656
00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:07,520
Speaker 1: fission reaction which causes the shock wave. Ultimately that begins

657
00:41:07,840 --> 00:41:11,880
Speaker 1: a second fission reaction within the plutonium rod. Now that

658
00:41:12,080 --> 00:41:15,400
Speaker 1: reaction starts to give off radiation, so it begins to

659
00:41:15,880 --> 00:41:19,080
Speaker 1: to expel neutrons, and it also gives off a lot

660
00:41:19,120 --> 00:41:20,920
Speaker 1: of heat, So now you've got even more heat in

661
00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:23,080
Speaker 1: addition to the heat that was generated by the X rays.

662
00:41:24,280 --> 00:41:28,600
Speaker 1: The neutrons go into the lithium deuterate, which then combine

663
00:41:28,640 --> 00:41:31,920
Speaker 1: with the lithium and that makes tritium. So now you've

664
00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:36,840
Speaker 1: got this environment of incredibly high temperature, this incredible pressure,

665
00:41:37,520 --> 00:41:42,200
Speaker 1: and it allows the tritium and deuterium and also deuterium

666
00:41:42,239 --> 00:41:47,320
Speaker 1: deuterium fusion reactions to occur. So you've got tritium combining

667
00:41:47,360 --> 00:41:51,239
Speaker 1: with deuterium and deuterium combining with itself in these reactions,

668
00:41:51,480 --> 00:41:55,520
Speaker 1: which produces even more heat, more radiation, more neutrons. Those

669
00:41:55,640 --> 00:42:00,360
Speaker 1: neutrons from those fusion reactions induce a final fission reaction

670
00:42:00,400 --> 00:42:04,840
Speaker 1: in the uranium. Two pieces that are making up that

671
00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:08,440
Speaker 1: tamper and the the shield that's around the whole thing,

672
00:42:09,800 --> 00:42:12,920
Speaker 1: which of course creates even more radiation and hate, and

673
00:42:13,000 --> 00:42:16,279
Speaker 1: then the bomb goes boom. So you've got these this

674
00:42:16,480 --> 00:42:19,840
Speaker 1: series of explosions going on in a fusion bomb, several

675
00:42:19,920 --> 00:42:23,160
Speaker 1: which are fission, one of which is fusion. The reason

676
00:42:23,280 --> 00:42:25,680
Speaker 1: for that, you may wonder, well, why do you need

677
00:42:25,880 --> 00:42:30,719
Speaker 1: so many reactions to go on for a bomb to explode? Well,

678
00:42:30,760 --> 00:42:34,640
Speaker 1: when we were talking about Little Boy, Uh, the interesting

679
00:42:34,719 --> 00:42:36,200
Speaker 1: thing to me about Little Boy is that it was

680
00:42:36,280 --> 00:42:40,000
Speaker 1: incredibly destructive weapon, but only one point five percent of

681
00:42:40,040 --> 00:42:43,640
Speaker 1: the material, the fission norble material within that bomb actually

682
00:42:43,840 --> 00:42:48,440
Speaker 1: underwent fission one five percent, So it could have been

683
00:42:48,760 --> 00:42:51,520
Speaker 1: even more destructed. Yes, the energy it unleashed could have

684
00:42:51,719 --> 00:42:57,200
Speaker 1: been orders of magnitude larger than it was. So a

685
00:42:57,320 --> 00:43:01,600
Speaker 1: fusion one, a fusion bomb is designed in part to

686
00:43:02,120 --> 00:43:07,719
Speaker 1: try and create as efficient a series of explosions and reactions, really,

687
00:43:07,719 --> 00:43:11,359
Speaker 1: we shouldn't even say explosions, reactions within the bomb, um

688
00:43:11,680 --> 00:43:14,080
Speaker 1: as as many as possible, are as much of that

689
00:43:14,160 --> 00:43:17,440
Speaker 1: material as possible, so that what it does detonate and

690
00:43:17,560 --> 00:43:20,400
Speaker 1: unleashes the largest amount of energy it possibly can for

691
00:43:20,640 --> 00:43:23,759
Speaker 1: the the amount of payload that it has. Now, this

692
00:43:23,880 --> 00:43:25,759
Speaker 1: also means that we have been able to reduce the

693
00:43:25,840 --> 00:43:30,160
Speaker 1: size of the actual payloads because we can create just

694
00:43:30,440 --> 00:43:33,680
Speaker 1: as an effective and explosion but with a smaller amount

695
00:43:33,680 --> 00:43:37,399
Speaker 1: of material as we could from several decades ago. Yeah,

696
00:43:37,400 --> 00:43:40,480
Speaker 1: the weapons these days are far more reliable than than

697
00:43:40,560 --> 00:43:44,040
Speaker 1: those early ones. UM. And we've gone from dropping them

698
00:43:44,120 --> 00:43:49,560
Speaker 1: from planes to mounting them on cruise missiles and i

699
00:43:49,719 --> 00:43:55,359
Speaker 1: c b ms intercontinental ballistic missiles UM. And of course, uh,

700
00:43:55,520 --> 00:43:59,160
Speaker 1: you know, these these weapons now travel under their own

701
00:43:59,200 --> 00:44:03,480
Speaker 1: power at a certain point anyway, and um, you know,

702
00:44:03,640 --> 00:44:05,799
Speaker 1: the the i c b ms can they actually leave

703
00:44:05,880 --> 00:44:08,719
Speaker 1: the atmosphere and re enter the atmosphere, so they can

704
00:44:08,760 --> 00:44:12,520
Speaker 1: travel very very long distances that way. UM. And we

705
00:44:12,680 --> 00:44:15,600
Speaker 1: we wouldn't really be able to to accomplish that if

706
00:44:15,640 --> 00:44:19,879
Speaker 1: we hadn't moved to a fusion method where we could

707
00:44:19,880 --> 00:44:22,640
Speaker 1: be so efficient with the way that we eliminate the

708
00:44:22,719 --> 00:44:25,680
Speaker 1: existence of other people on the planet. I hate to

709
00:44:25,760 --> 00:44:27,560
Speaker 1: put it that way, but you know, ultimately, even though

710
00:44:27,560 --> 00:44:30,400
Speaker 1: we're talking about something that's really scientific, the application of

711
00:44:30,520 --> 00:44:33,359
Speaker 1: this is absolutely horrifying. But it's not able to get

712
00:44:33,400 --> 00:44:36,480
Speaker 1: away from that. But the uh, yeah, because if if

713
00:44:36,520 --> 00:44:38,239
Speaker 1: we hadn't done that, if we hadn't come up with

714
00:44:38,320 --> 00:44:42,320
Speaker 1: the fusion process, then it would be much less efficient

715
00:44:42,480 --> 00:44:45,360
Speaker 1: and we might not have the option of putting something

716
00:44:45,480 --> 00:44:48,759
Speaker 1: on a missile because it would the payload could be

717
00:44:48,880 --> 00:44:52,480
Speaker 1: too great for for a missile to be uh practical,

718
00:44:53,080 --> 00:44:54,480
Speaker 1: because at that point you would have to build a

719
00:44:54,520 --> 00:44:57,080
Speaker 1: missile that would be able to carry enough fuel so

720
00:44:57,239 --> 00:45:00,560
Speaker 1: that could propel both the missile itself and payload to

721
00:45:00,600 --> 00:45:02,960
Speaker 1: wherever it is you're going to send it, and it

722
00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:06,400
Speaker 1: could just become a matter of scale and and it

723
00:45:06,560 --> 00:45:11,120
Speaker 1: just would not be It would be possible, but not practical. Uh.

724
00:45:11,520 --> 00:45:14,680
Speaker 1: By making it way more efficient, we can now put

725
00:45:14,719 --> 00:45:17,640
Speaker 1: it on top of lots of stuff, including you know,

726
00:45:18,040 --> 00:45:22,399
Speaker 1: not just missiles, but weapons aboard submarines. I mean that's

727
00:45:22,400 --> 00:45:26,200
Speaker 1: all sorts of stuff, right, So terrifying in a way,

728
00:45:26,320 --> 00:45:30,799
Speaker 1: but yeah, we we have we have Einstein a thing

729
00:45:30,880 --> 00:45:34,719
Speaker 1: for it. So the next time you see that guy. Well, um,

730
00:45:35,280 --> 00:45:37,040
Speaker 1: one of the things that I wanted to mention too,

731
00:45:37,080 --> 00:45:38,479
Speaker 1: And we don't have to get into it in great

732
00:45:38,520 --> 00:45:41,520
Speaker 1: depth because we're getting there as far as time goes.

733
00:45:41,640 --> 00:45:45,520
Speaker 1: But um is the testing of these these weapons traditionally. UM.

734
00:45:45,800 --> 00:45:49,239
Speaker 1: Of course, as Jonathan mentioned earlier, in the very very

735
00:45:49,280 --> 00:45:53,360
Speaker 1: early days before they had been actually used. UH, scientists

736
00:45:54,160 --> 00:45:56,040
Speaker 1: wanted to test them to to find out if it

737
00:45:56,160 --> 00:45:59,399
Speaker 1: was even possible to make uh the weapon of mass

738
00:45:59,440 --> 00:46:02,960
Speaker 1: destruction they envisioned to to to see exactly what it

739
00:46:02,960 --> 00:46:05,840
Speaker 1: would do, how well it would work. UM. So they

740
00:46:05,880 --> 00:46:10,200
Speaker 1: did all this testing outside UM and above ground. Now

741
00:46:10,400 --> 00:46:13,560
Speaker 1: they've a lot in a lot of cases they've done well.

742
00:46:13,560 --> 00:46:16,360
Speaker 1: They've done tests pretty much in all sorts of forms.

743
00:46:16,440 --> 00:46:18,759
Speaker 1: I mean, they still do them outside, but UH in

744
00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:22,000
Speaker 1: a lot of cases now they UH weapons engineers do

745
00:46:22,120 --> 00:46:26,120
Speaker 1: this underground UM in an attempt to contain the reaction.

746
00:46:26,440 --> 00:46:31,560
Speaker 1: Of course, although it UH a nuclear reaction can produce

747
00:46:31,600 --> 00:46:35,279
Speaker 1: such force that it can vaporize large amounts of rock,

748
00:46:35,680 --> 00:46:38,000
Speaker 1: so they have to be very careful where they do this. UM.

749
00:46:39,080 --> 00:46:41,960
Speaker 1: You know, for a long time, many governments around the

750
00:46:42,000 --> 00:46:46,360
Speaker 1: world would use UH islands to to test their their weapons,

751
00:46:46,480 --> 00:46:51,880
Speaker 1: places that they felt were uh somewhat unoccupied. UM. And

752
00:46:52,360 --> 00:46:56,040
Speaker 1: for for example, UH actually that inspired uh the Godzilla

753
00:46:56,120 --> 00:47:01,759
Speaker 1: series of movies, UM, where they a lizard irradiated on

754
00:47:01,880 --> 00:47:05,879
Speaker 1: an island. Where. It's a great series of documentary documentaries

755
00:47:06,239 --> 00:47:09,800
Speaker 1: where UH, the the the the one, the one, lizard

756
00:47:10,040 --> 00:47:12,879
Speaker 1: who was irradiated by this this nuclear explosion turns into

757
00:47:12,920 --> 00:47:15,160
Speaker 1: Godzilla and not you know, all of the other animals

758
00:47:15,200 --> 00:47:17,560
Speaker 1: that happened to be living there. Um, he got just

759
00:47:17,840 --> 00:47:21,040
Speaker 1: the right amount of dust, apparently. So UM. They've tested

760
00:47:21,080 --> 00:47:25,520
Speaker 1: weapons underwater, UM, you know, and in space, but people

761
00:47:25,600 --> 00:47:31,319
Speaker 1: are gradually moving to computer testing, UM, which allows scientists

762
00:47:31,400 --> 00:47:36,200
Speaker 1: to get a much better idea of how things might

763
00:47:36,320 --> 00:47:40,040
Speaker 1: work without having to actually blow something up, actually blow

764
00:47:40,160 --> 00:47:45,080
Speaker 1: something up, uh and create the environmental conditions UM, the

765
00:47:45,520 --> 00:47:49,000
Speaker 1: the fallout and and reactions that would follow UM. And

766
00:47:49,560 --> 00:47:53,640
Speaker 1: they've found that this can be actually beneficial. I was

767
00:47:53,680 --> 00:47:56,200
Speaker 1: reading an article I believe it was in the Washington Post.

768
00:47:56,239 --> 00:47:59,520
Speaker 1: It was saying that uh uh computer modeling had allowed

769
00:47:59,560 --> 00:48:05,239
Speaker 1: engineers to discover problems that they hadn't realized existed with

770
00:48:05,440 --> 00:48:09,200
Speaker 1: the weapons system that they built, UM, and uh prevented

771
00:48:09,280 --> 00:48:12,280
Speaker 1: it from becoming you know, they re engineered the weapons

772
00:48:12,280 --> 00:48:14,880
Speaker 1: that were in existence because there was a possibility that

773
00:48:14,960 --> 00:48:17,960
Speaker 1: it may not then it may cause problems and wouldn't

774
00:48:18,000 --> 00:48:22,400
Speaker 1: be a stable um. And uh, you know, it's it's interesting.

775
00:48:22,880 --> 00:48:26,400
Speaker 1: But of course they've found out through testing that that

776
00:48:26,600 --> 00:48:30,160
Speaker 1: fall out can travel UM through air currents and water.

777
00:48:30,640 --> 00:48:32,520
Speaker 1: And Uh, I think that's one of the things that

778
00:48:32,680 --> 00:48:38,640
Speaker 1: leads to um fear that keeps people from using nuclear

779
00:48:38,719 --> 00:48:42,480
Speaker 1: weapons more freely because people really understand now more than

780
00:48:42,560 --> 00:48:46,279
Speaker 1: they did um years ago that you know, this is

781
00:48:46,360 --> 00:48:50,279
Speaker 1: not something that should be done casually. Yeah, there's also

782
00:48:50,320 --> 00:48:54,719
Speaker 1: the fear the hypothetical nuclear winter, yes, which you know,

783
00:48:54,880 --> 00:48:59,560
Speaker 1: the particulate matter from multiple explosions basically causing clouds above

784
00:48:59,600 --> 00:49:02,400
Speaker 1: the earth right, which would block the sun's light from

785
00:49:02,480 --> 00:49:04,840
Speaker 1: reaching the ground, thus killing off a lot of the

786
00:49:04,880 --> 00:49:09,200
Speaker 1: plant life that depends upon sunlight. And then that ends

787
00:49:09,280 --> 00:49:12,359
Speaker 1: up that ends up killing off the species that all

788
00:49:12,400 --> 00:49:15,680
Speaker 1: depend on plants, humans being one of them. So it

789
00:49:15,800 --> 00:49:19,719
Speaker 1: could end up being a global extinction event. It could

790
00:49:19,760 --> 00:49:22,840
Speaker 1: also be something where it just changes the climate globally

791
00:49:23,000 --> 00:49:26,000
Speaker 1: where you know, we actually do have a really harsh

792
00:49:26,719 --> 00:49:29,840
Speaker 1: winter because the sun's light just isn't hitting the surface

793
00:49:29,880 --> 00:49:32,279
Speaker 1: and warming it the way it usually would. Uh. And

794
00:49:32,760 --> 00:49:36,640
Speaker 1: we see we see things that could point us into

795
00:49:37,600 --> 00:49:40,400
Speaker 1: like suggest that that's true by by things like like

796
00:49:40,520 --> 00:49:44,240
Speaker 1: a volcanic eruptions where a lot of matters is ejected

797
00:49:44,360 --> 00:49:50,759
Speaker 1: into the atmosphere and it can affect uh, local weather patterns. Now,

798
00:49:50,840 --> 00:49:52,759
Speaker 1: when we're talking about a nuclear winter, we're talking about

799
00:49:52,760 --> 00:49:55,880
Speaker 1: something that would last longer than a you know, just

800
00:49:56,080 --> 00:50:00,160
Speaker 1: a month or two. So it's pretty it's a it's uh,

801
00:50:00,400 --> 00:50:03,239
Speaker 1: it's one of those doomsday scenarios. It's a sobering thought,

802
00:50:03,400 --> 00:50:08,239
Speaker 1: to be sure. Um. And uh, you know, it's one

803
00:50:08,280 --> 00:50:11,279
Speaker 1: of the reasons I'm interested in this is, you know,

804
00:50:11,360 --> 00:50:13,279
Speaker 1: to see the flip side, you know, the idea that

805
00:50:13,400 --> 00:50:16,200
Speaker 1: that nuclear energy can be used as a very efficient

806
00:50:16,480 --> 00:50:19,719
Speaker 1: and clean source of power. Of course, we saw we

807
00:50:19,920 --> 00:50:25,200
Speaker 1: we talked about the Fukushima um reactor last year right

808
00:50:25,280 --> 00:50:28,399
Speaker 1: after it happened. Um, but that's not the same as

809
00:50:28,440 --> 00:50:32,800
Speaker 1: an intentionally intentionally using nuclear power to cause the destruction

810
00:50:32,840 --> 00:50:37,080
Speaker 1: of many people. So um, it's it's amazing to me

811
00:50:37,640 --> 00:50:40,960
Speaker 1: personally that a little tiny atom can be used to

812
00:50:42,040 --> 00:50:45,920
Speaker 1: do these amazing things, whether they're you know, and I

813
00:50:46,000 --> 00:50:53,200
Speaker 1: mean amazing and instructive or destructive. Uh, it's it's amazing.

814
00:50:53,360 --> 00:50:55,560
Speaker 1: It is amazing, And we'll probably I think what we'll

815
00:50:55,600 --> 00:50:57,759
Speaker 1: need to do is in a future podcast, we'll have

816
00:50:57,840 --> 00:51:00,239
Speaker 1: to do a full episode just on the Manhattan Product Act.

817
00:51:00,800 --> 00:51:03,760
Speaker 1: Because the if you look at a list of names

818
00:51:03,880 --> 00:51:06,200
Speaker 1: of the people associated with it. If you've ever taken

819
00:51:06,239 --> 00:51:09,560
Speaker 1: any any classes in physics, you're going to recognize a

820
00:51:09,640 --> 00:51:13,880
Speaker 1: lot of those names. I mean, the era that the

821
00:51:13,960 --> 00:51:18,120
Speaker 1: Manhattan Project existed in was remarkable in the sense of

822
00:51:18,440 --> 00:51:23,680
Speaker 1: it was it was an unprecedented era of scientific exploration

823
00:51:23,760 --> 00:51:27,719
Speaker 1: and innovation. UM. One of those where you just it

824
00:51:27,880 --> 00:51:32,560
Speaker 1: was phenomenal the amount of of UH work and scientific

825
00:51:32,600 --> 00:51:35,640
Speaker 1: discovery that went on at that time. UH and in

826
00:51:35,760 --> 00:51:39,520
Speaker 1: no small part that was due to things like World

827
00:51:39,600 --> 00:51:44,160
Speaker 1: War And that concludes this classic episode How Nuclear Weapons Work.

828
00:51:44,360 --> 00:51:47,480
Speaker 1: Chris and I originally recorded that episode on April fourth,

829
00:51:47,760 --> 00:51:52,400
Speaker 1: two thousand twelve, and obviously the world has continued to

830
00:51:53,040 --> 00:51:56,880
Speaker 1: depend upon the threat of nuclear weapons since then. We

831
00:51:57,040 --> 00:51:58,719
Speaker 1: have not been able to get rid of them all.

832
00:51:58,800 --> 00:52:03,200
Speaker 1: We haven't had a magical Superman for incident where a

833
00:52:03,560 --> 00:52:06,319
Speaker 1: super powerful alien comes down to Earth and throws all

834
00:52:06,400 --> 00:52:09,480
Speaker 1: of them into the sun. So again, I think it's

835
00:52:09,520 --> 00:52:12,960
Speaker 1: important to just know how these things work and hopefully

836
00:52:13,080 --> 00:52:15,560
Speaker 1: we never ever have to worry about it in a

837
00:52:15,960 --> 00:52:19,920
Speaker 1: more practical sense. If you guys have any suggestions for

838
00:52:20,080 --> 00:52:23,120
Speaker 1: future episodes of tech stuff, maybe it's a technology, maybe

839
00:52:23,120 --> 00:52:25,719
Speaker 1: it's a company, maybe it's a personality. And tech send

840
00:52:25,760 --> 00:52:28,719
Speaker 1: me a message. The email address is tech Stuff at

841
00:52:28,920 --> 00:52:31,759
Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com, or you can drop me

842
00:52:31,840 --> 00:52:34,080
Speaker 1: a line on Facebook or Twitter. To handle at both

843
00:52:34,120 --> 00:52:37,120
Speaker 1: of those is tech Stuff H s W. Don't forget.

844
00:52:37,239 --> 00:52:40,239
Speaker 1: You can also follow us on Instagram and I'll talk

845
00:52:40,280 --> 00:52:48,759
Speaker 1: to you again really soon for more on this and

846
00:52:48,880 --> 00:52:51,399
Speaker 1: thousands of other topics because it have stuff works dot

847
00:52:51,440 --> 00:53:00,239
Speaker 1: Com two