1 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 2 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:13,480 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Be there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:17,360 Speaker 1: I'm your host, senior writer Jonathan Strickland from how stuff 4 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:20,000 Speaker 1: works dot com. And today I thought we'd take a 5 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:23,079 Speaker 1: look at a few times when cooler heads prevailed and 6 00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: we sidestepped a sticky situation, namely a nuclear strike. Now, 7 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:31,960 Speaker 1: there are a whole bunch of times when we have 8 00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:36,479 Speaker 1: nearly gone to nuclear war with various superpowers. And before 9 00:00:36,479 --> 00:00:40,040 Speaker 1: I talk about those cases in which we almost went 10 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:42,879 Speaker 1: over the brink, let's talk a bit about the weapons 11 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:46,839 Speaker 1: themselves and how they work. At the heart of the 12 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:53,639 Speaker 1: matter is the humble atom. That's atom, not atom. Uh. 13 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:56,200 Speaker 1: Let's go to basic science on this one. So I'm 14 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:59,120 Speaker 1: gonna start fundamental. I know you guys know this, but 15 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:01,080 Speaker 1: I feel like it's all is important to start from 16 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 1: the base and build your way up. So you probably 17 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:08,280 Speaker 1: are familiar with this from elementary school science and atom 18 00:01:08,319 --> 00:01:11,680 Speaker 1: consists of a nucleus orbited by one or more electrons, 19 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:15,640 Speaker 1: and the nucleus contains one or more protons and possibly 20 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:20,520 Speaker 1: some neutrons. Electrons have a negative charge, protons have a 21 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:23,399 Speaker 1: positive charge, and neutrons have no charge at all because 22 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:26,080 Speaker 1: of their credit is bad. Now, if you know the 23 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:31,280 Speaker 1: rules about electromagnetic charges, you remember that opposites attract and 24 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:36,640 Speaker 1: the same charges repel each other. So that raises a question, 25 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:40,000 Speaker 1: how can an atom have a nucleus with two or 26 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:43,240 Speaker 1: more protons in it and not just break apart? If 27 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:49,480 Speaker 1: you have two positively charged particles subatomic particles protons that 28 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:51,680 Speaker 1: close to each other, how come they don't just push 29 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:55,559 Speaker 1: against each other and the nucleus just pop splits apart. 30 00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:57,559 Speaker 1: And then we would just end up with hydrogen atoms 31 00:01:57,560 --> 00:01:59,920 Speaker 1: because an hydrogen atom is just a proton and electron, 32 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:04,800 Speaker 1: your basic hydrogen atom. That would all make sense, right 33 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:08,280 Speaker 1: if it If the entire universe was just hydrogen, why 34 00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:12,600 Speaker 1: do we have nucleus is or nuclei should say, nuclei 35 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:16,000 Speaker 1: with multiple protons. Well, to answer this question, we have 36 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:19,680 Speaker 1: to turn to the standard model of physics, which is 37 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:24,640 Speaker 1: mostly how we think the universe works. Mostly, the standard 38 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:29,000 Speaker 1: model doesn't quite incorporate everything. It doesn't explain absolutely everything. 39 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:31,960 Speaker 1: Gravity is a big mystery with the standard model. We 40 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:35,440 Speaker 1: consider it one of the four fundamental forces, but we 41 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:39,079 Speaker 1: don't really have all the mechanisms explained under the standard 42 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:42,200 Speaker 1: model of physics. It does, however, give us a pretty 43 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:44,360 Speaker 1: good idea of what's going on. It's held up to 44 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:48,200 Speaker 1: lots of experimentation and observations. So the standard model says 45 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:50,800 Speaker 1: that stuff like protons and neutrons are made up of 46 00:02:50,919 --> 00:02:55,880 Speaker 1: even smaller particles called quarks, which is not as I 47 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:59,520 Speaker 1: learned the sound made by a Dirk. Quarks are the 48 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:02,120 Speaker 1: smallest building block we know of right now, and you 49 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:05,040 Speaker 1: can't split them up into smaller things. That's as small 50 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:07,600 Speaker 1: as you can get, at least as far as we 51 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:11,840 Speaker 1: know at the moment. Anyway, there's a force that holds 52 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:18,440 Speaker 1: these quark particles together to form larger particles called hadrons, 53 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 1: among which are protons and neutrons. Those are both types 54 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:25,880 Speaker 1: of hadrons. There lots and lots of other ones as well, 55 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:30,119 Speaker 1: and this force is called the strong nuclear force. It's 56 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:33,160 Speaker 1: also what binds nuclei together so that they don't go 57 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:35,480 Speaker 1: splitting up all over the place, and out of the 58 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:40,000 Speaker 1: four fundamental forces of our universe, this is the strongest. However, 59 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:45,720 Speaker 1: it also takes effect over the smallest distance. The range 60 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:49,120 Speaker 1: is incredibly small. It's on the sub atomic scale. So 61 00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:53,800 Speaker 1: while it's very strong, it doesn't reach very far. There's 62 00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:59,559 Speaker 1: also a weak nuclear force. The physicist Enrico Fermi theorize 63 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:03,400 Speaker 1: that the weak nuclear force was what he was observing 64 00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:06,800 Speaker 1: when he saw certain atoms undergoing What it's called beta decay. 65 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:11,800 Speaker 1: Has nothing to do with Siamese fish. Beta decay is 66 00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:16,279 Speaker 1: about a neutron or a proton in an atoms nucleus 67 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:20,279 Speaker 1: switching sides. Essentially, a neutron will change it to a proton, 68 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:23,560 Speaker 1: and it will expel an electron in the process, so 69 00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:27,160 Speaker 1: you've got a NEUTRALI charged particle. It expels an electron, 70 00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:30,200 Speaker 1: it becomes positive as a result, And to make matters 71 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:33,320 Speaker 1: a bit more confusing, we call this electron that gets 72 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:36,880 Speaker 1: expelled a beta particle. So it is an electron, but 73 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:42,000 Speaker 1: specifically a beta particle. Another sub atomic particle also forms 74 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:46,880 Speaker 1: in this process. It's called an anti neutrino. So this 75 00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:51,440 Speaker 1: type of beta decay is called beta minus decay. However, 76 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:54,599 Speaker 1: there's also a beta plus decay. That's when you have 77 00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:58,320 Speaker 1: the opposite happen, where a proton becomes a neutron as 78 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:01,719 Speaker 1: opposed to a neutron becoming a proton. Beta plus decay 79 00:05:02,279 --> 00:05:06,200 Speaker 1: uh products include not just the the brand new neutron. 80 00:05:06,279 --> 00:05:10,400 Speaker 1: It also includes a subatomic particle called a positron and 81 00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:13,880 Speaker 1: a new trino, So you get anti neutrinos and electrons 82 00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:18,640 Speaker 1: with one and you get positrons and neutrinos with the other. Anyway, 83 00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:22,479 Speaker 1: weak nuclear force explains this process of nuclear decay, this 84 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:24,919 Speaker 1: particular type of nuclear decay. There are a couple of 85 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:29,039 Speaker 1: others as well. So when atoms decay, one of the 86 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:32,720 Speaker 1: byproducts is also energy. They give off energy as they decay, 87 00:05:32,839 --> 00:05:37,600 Speaker 1: they radiate it. So this is the source of radiation. Uh, 88 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:41,920 Speaker 1: that's why we call it nuclear radiation. Not all atoms 89 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:45,600 Speaker 1: do this because some of them are perfectly stable. That 90 00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:47,840 Speaker 1: means that they're not going to decay into some other 91 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:51,520 Speaker 1: form because they're already stable. They're not there's nothing for 92 00:05:51,560 --> 00:05:55,080 Speaker 1: them to to get more stable. It's kind of like 93 00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:59,560 Speaker 1: if you were to have, um, you know, a stack 94 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:04,160 Speaker 1: of of things and they fall over to a certain point, 95 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:08,240 Speaker 1: they're not gonna fall anymore because they're flat against the ground. 96 00:06:08,279 --> 00:06:10,000 Speaker 1: That's as far as they go. That's kind of the 97 00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:17,000 Speaker 1: same idea. Now, in the case of nuclear weapons, the 98 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:21,120 Speaker 1: the elements we use. Their atoms need just the right 99 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:25,960 Speaker 1: push in order to have their nuclei split, and when 100 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:29,320 Speaker 1: that happens, the split nuclei shoot off a few neutrons, 101 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:33,000 Speaker 1: and that ultimately is the secret sauce to nuclear weapons. 102 00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:37,120 Speaker 1: So here's how it all works. Let's say you get 103 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:42,640 Speaker 1: yourself a whole bunch of a particular large, unstable atom. 104 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:45,040 Speaker 1: Let's say, for argument's sake, it's oh, I don't know, 105 00:06:45,279 --> 00:06:50,440 Speaker 1: uranium two thirty five, which is essentially weaponized uranium. Uh. 106 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:54,520 Speaker 1: It also actually it's out there in nature. It is 107 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:57,920 Speaker 1: not the most common form of uranium in nature because 108 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:02,760 Speaker 1: it is uh, by its very nature unstable. It will 109 00:07:02,839 --> 00:07:07,479 Speaker 1: decay on its own over a very long period of time. UM. 110 00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:09,960 Speaker 1: The more common form of uranium and nature is uranium 111 00:07:09,960 --> 00:07:13,160 Speaker 1: two thirty eight. But for weapons, you want uranium two 112 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:18,600 Speaker 1: thirty five. It's an isotope of uranium. Isotopes are forms 113 00:07:18,640 --> 00:07:21,560 Speaker 1: of an element that have the same number of protons, 114 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:23,880 Speaker 1: because if you change the number of protons, you change 115 00:07:23,920 --> 00:07:27,000 Speaker 1: the element itself, So it has to have the exact 116 00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:29,760 Speaker 1: same number of protons from isotope to isotope, but has 117 00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:34,760 Speaker 1: a different number of neutrons UM. So, as another example, 118 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:38,240 Speaker 1: carbon twelve is a type of carbon that has six 119 00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:42,400 Speaker 1: protons and six neutrons. Carbon fourteen is different, has got 120 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:46,960 Speaker 1: six protons and eight neutrons. Uh. It's also radioactive, meaning 121 00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:50,800 Speaker 1: it will decay into a more stable form or another 122 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:53,360 Speaker 1: more stable atom and give off energy in that process 123 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:57,200 Speaker 1: as well as some neutrons. So uranium two thirty five 124 00:07:57,240 --> 00:08:02,000 Speaker 1: has ninety two protons and ont reread neutrons. The half 125 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:05,320 Speaker 1: life of uranium two thirty five is seven hundred million 126 00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:09,960 Speaker 1: years now half life. What that means is that if 127 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:12,720 Speaker 1: you had a chunk of uranium two thirty five, so 128 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:14,720 Speaker 1: they've got a whole bunch of these uranium two thirty 129 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:19,560 Speaker 1: five atoms, it's statistically probable that after seven hundred million 130 00:08:19,680 --> 00:08:23,040 Speaker 1: years past, half of those atoms would decay have decayed 131 00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:27,400 Speaker 1: to other more stable atoms. Statistically speaking, this is all 132 00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:32,360 Speaker 1: about probability, not about a definite future. That's the thing 133 00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:35,760 Speaker 1: you have to remember about half life. It's about probability, 134 00:08:36,040 --> 00:08:41,080 Speaker 1: not definitive outcomes. Uranium two thirty eight, that more common 135 00:08:41,120 --> 00:08:43,640 Speaker 1: form of uranium I talked about, has a half life 136 00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:48,040 Speaker 1: of four point five billion years. So while uranium to 137 00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:50,480 Speaker 1: thirty five is seven hundred million years half life, that's 138 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:54,240 Speaker 1: a long long time. I mean, particularly for human species right, 139 00:08:54,400 --> 00:08:57,360 Speaker 1: four point five billion years leaves it in the dust. 140 00:08:58,880 --> 00:09:01,000 Speaker 1: All right, So back to your ranium two thirty five. 141 00:09:01,160 --> 00:09:05,280 Speaker 1: Fermine was able to create a controlled nuclear reaction using 142 00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:07,240 Speaker 1: uranium two thirty five. So what he did was he 143 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:10,800 Speaker 1: took a He took low speed neutrons and fired them 144 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:13,800 Speaker 1: at atoms of uranium two thirty five in order to 145 00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:18,280 Speaker 1: break the isotope apart, splitting it. That's what we call 146 00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:22,800 Speaker 1: nuclear fission. We're splitting an atom. In this process, the 147 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:25,960 Speaker 1: atom gives off heat and radiation as well as generating 148 00:09:26,440 --> 00:09:29,960 Speaker 1: new atoms, right, because you you split into two or 149 00:09:29,960 --> 00:09:33,440 Speaker 1: more components. Also in that process, it shoots off some 150 00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:37,680 Speaker 1: extra neutrons, so those go spinning off. Now that means 151 00:09:37,720 --> 00:09:40,280 Speaker 1: that if you had enough uranium two thirty five, and 152 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:42,920 Speaker 1: you had a means of making sure those neutrons that 153 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:46,520 Speaker 1: gave off could hit those other atoms of uranium two 154 00:09:46,520 --> 00:09:50,880 Speaker 1: thirty five, you could continue this reaction. It becomes a 155 00:09:50,960 --> 00:09:54,679 Speaker 1: chain reaction. It the neutrons that get fired off hit 156 00:09:54,840 --> 00:10:00,400 Speaker 1: other uranium two thirty five atoms, which then produce more 157 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:05,000 Speaker 1: free neutrons flying outward, which can hit more uranium two atoms, 158 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:07,040 Speaker 1: and so on and so forth, and each time you're 159 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:09,560 Speaker 1: doing this, it's generating more and more heat and energy 160 00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:12,480 Speaker 1: and radiation uh than us. If you were to do 161 00:10:12,520 --> 00:10:15,600 Speaker 1: this in an uncontrolled way, you get a bomb. If 162 00:10:15,640 --> 00:10:17,440 Speaker 1: you do it in a controlled way, you can have 163 00:10:17,480 --> 00:10:20,600 Speaker 1: a nuclear power plant. Our power plants are based off 164 00:10:20,679 --> 00:10:25,080 Speaker 1: nuclear fission because that's the type of nuclear power we 165 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:28,840 Speaker 1: have found to be sustainable. Right now, there's a real 166 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:34,839 Speaker 1: push to make nuclear fusion a sustainable means of generating electricity, 167 00:10:34,880 --> 00:10:38,120 Speaker 1: but right now it is very difficult to create a 168 00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:42,079 Speaker 1: sustainable version of that. We can we can start nuclear fusion, 169 00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:45,720 Speaker 1: but generally speaking, we tend to put as much or 170 00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:48,839 Speaker 1: more energy into the system as we're getting out of it, 171 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:51,800 Speaker 1: and so that doesn't really work if you want a 172 00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:56,600 Speaker 1: sustainable form of generating electricity. If you're spending more than 173 00:10:56,640 --> 00:11:02,959 Speaker 1: you take in, you go broke eventually. Anyway, this uncontrolled 174 00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:07,360 Speaker 1: chain reaction could be more of a bomb situation, although 175 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:10,080 Speaker 1: to be fair, in nuclear weapons it's still very much 176 00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:13,840 Speaker 1: a controlled system. It's just controlled in a way to 177 00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:20,200 Speaker 1: release an enormous amount of energy in a very destructive way. Now, 178 00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:24,199 Speaker 1: this requires enriched uranium, and it it requires a lot of uranium. 179 00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:26,960 Speaker 1: Two thirty five. You need a really high concentration of 180 00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:30,360 Speaker 1: uranium two thirty five because uranium two thirty eight doesn't 181 00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:35,319 Speaker 1: accept neutrons as readily. So if you shoot neutrons at 182 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:38,440 Speaker 1: uranium two thirty five, you're it's much easier to split 183 00:11:38,520 --> 00:11:40,840 Speaker 1: that than if you were to fire it off uranium 184 00:11:40,880 --> 00:11:46,200 Speaker 1: two thirty eight. So weapons grade uranium is typically about 185 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:49,800 Speaker 1: uranium two thirty five. This is a much higher concentration 186 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:53,400 Speaker 1: than you would find out in nature. So with these 187 00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:55,880 Speaker 1: nuclear bombs, you have to make sure that the fuel 188 00:11:56,040 --> 00:12:00,720 Speaker 1: is kept in separate subcritical masses to prevent premature detonation. 189 00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:03,880 Speaker 1: So you you obviously don't want this thing to go 190 00:12:03,960 --> 00:12:06,360 Speaker 1: off before you intend it to, or else you're going 191 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:09,640 Speaker 1: to destroy yourself. To make it explode, You need the 192 00:12:09,640 --> 00:12:13,640 Speaker 1: bomb to achieve what is called critical mass. This is 193 00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:16,400 Speaker 1: the minimum amount of mass you need of fission noble 194 00:12:16,520 --> 00:12:19,920 Speaker 1: material to create a nuclear chain reaction sufficient enough to 195 00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:22,720 Speaker 1: act as a weapon. So over at how stuff works 196 00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:25,640 Speaker 1: dot com, we have an article all about this about 197 00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:29,720 Speaker 1: how nuclear weapons work, and it contains a really helpful analogy. 198 00:12:30,280 --> 00:12:33,760 Speaker 1: It says, imagine that the fission noble material, the stuff 199 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:37,120 Speaker 1: that you are going to split is represented as a 200 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:40,560 Speaker 1: bunch of marbles inside a circle. If the marbles are 201 00:12:40,559 --> 00:12:43,640 Speaker 1: really close together, then you shoot a marble into that circle, 202 00:12:43,679 --> 00:12:45,679 Speaker 1: it's going to hit against a couple of other marbles. 203 00:12:45,679 --> 00:12:47,960 Speaker 1: If you've used enough force, it's going to create a 204 00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:51,520 Speaker 1: little chain reaction. That's what we're talking about with fissionable 205 00:12:51,640 --> 00:12:55,440 Speaker 1: material and a nuclear bomb. But if you fire a 206 00:12:55,480 --> 00:12:58,120 Speaker 1: marble off into a circle and all the individual marbles 207 00:12:58,160 --> 00:13:01,440 Speaker 1: are further apart from each other, it's less likely that 208 00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:03,800 Speaker 1: you're going to be able to set off that nuclear 209 00:13:03,880 --> 00:13:08,439 Speaker 1: chain reaction because even if you hit another marble, uh, 210 00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:11,719 Speaker 1: it's far enough away from its fellow marbles that you're 211 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:17,640 Speaker 1: not likely to to make it a consistent, persistent nuclear 212 00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:21,520 Speaker 1: chain reaction. And so that's really the difference between critical 213 00:13:21,559 --> 00:13:25,760 Speaker 1: and subcritical masses. Now. To start the whole reaction, nuclear 214 00:13:25,760 --> 00:13:31,040 Speaker 1: weapons typically use a pellet of polonium and beryllium separated 215 00:13:31,040 --> 00:13:35,040 Speaker 1: by a piece of foil. When the subcritical masses come together, 216 00:13:35,120 --> 00:13:37,200 Speaker 1: as in when a bomb is set to detonate, and 217 00:13:37,240 --> 00:13:40,440 Speaker 1: more about that in a second, it causes the polonium 218 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:44,080 Speaker 1: to emit alpha particles, and an alpha particle, in case 219 00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:47,200 Speaker 1: you're curious, is a pair of protons and a pair 220 00:13:47,200 --> 00:13:51,280 Speaker 1: of neutrons that are bound together. The alpha particles make 221 00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:54,840 Speaker 1: contact with a brillium which cause it to transform into 222 00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:59,520 Speaker 1: an isotope of brillium and emit neutrons. So the burrillium 223 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:02,480 Speaker 1: changes to a different type of brillium, a different isotope 224 00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:05,520 Speaker 1: of brillium, and it ejects these neutrons as part of it. 225 00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:08,439 Speaker 1: Those ejected neutrons, they become the starting point for the 226 00:14:08,520 --> 00:14:15,920 Speaker 1: nuclear chain reaction. Now, surrounding your enriched uranium to thirty 227 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:22,280 Speaker 1: five is a casing called a tamper. That's what's designed 228 00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:25,400 Speaker 1: to contain the energy of the nuclear fission until it's 229 00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:28,760 Speaker 1: time to release it in the form of the nuclear explosion. 230 00:14:29,600 --> 00:14:33,360 Speaker 1: And typically it's uranium two thirty eight that ends up 231 00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:37,000 Speaker 1: redirecting those free neutrons back into the core so that 232 00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:42,200 Speaker 1: they can more efficiently impact other uranium two thirty five atoms, 233 00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:45,520 Speaker 1: and it aids in the continuation of fission. The more 234 00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:48,920 Speaker 1: fissionable material gets activated, the more efficient the bomb is 235 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:53,000 Speaker 1: and the bigger the explosion you get as a result. Now, 236 00:14:53,040 --> 00:14:55,640 Speaker 1: one way to detonate a nuclear weapon is with the 237 00:14:55,840 --> 00:15:00,920 Speaker 1: uranium bullet method. So typically you have the tampa, which 238 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:04,160 Speaker 1: UH you you know, is this container of some sort 239 00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:06,320 Speaker 1: kind of like it's usually kind of a cylinder shape 240 00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:09,240 Speaker 1: because you're fitting it inside a larger form factor of 241 00:15:09,280 --> 00:15:12,480 Speaker 1: a bomb, and that's what's made of uranium two thirty eight. 242 00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:16,440 Speaker 1: Inside of this you have a sphere of uranium two 243 00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:19,560 Speaker 1: thirty five, and in the center of the sphere is 244 00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:23,000 Speaker 1: your neutron generator, in other words, your little pellet of 245 00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:28,120 Speaker 1: polonium and brillium. You've got a tube leading down into 246 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:30,760 Speaker 1: the center of the sphere. At the other end of 247 00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:34,600 Speaker 1: the tube are some explosives, and inside the tube is 248 00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:38,800 Speaker 1: a bullet of uranium two thirty five. So when it's 249 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:42,480 Speaker 1: time to detonate the bomb, you explode the explosives. These 250 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:47,040 Speaker 1: are conventional explosives, not nuclear explosives. That propels the uranium 251 00:15:47,080 --> 00:15:50,960 Speaker 1: two thirty five bullet at a very high rate down 252 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:56,000 Speaker 1: the tube, colliding with the pellet and thus UH initiating 253 00:15:56,000 --> 00:16:00,600 Speaker 1: the neutron generator, which shoots out neutrons and thus starts 254 00:16:00,640 --> 00:16:08,280 Speaker 1: to fission the uranium two. This fissioning activity happens in 255 00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:11,720 Speaker 1: a in an instant like a fraction of a fraction 256 00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:14,320 Speaker 1: of a fraction of a second but in that fraction 257 00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:18,160 Speaker 1: each time this is happening so so fast that energy 258 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:20,360 Speaker 1: builds and builds and builds and builds until it's greater 259 00:16:20,400 --> 00:16:23,240 Speaker 1: than what the bomb itself can contain. And then it explodes. 260 00:16:26,520 --> 00:16:30,560 Speaker 1: It takes place uh in so fast that uh it's 261 00:16:30,640 --> 00:16:35,200 Speaker 1: it's it's like billions of a second um And you 262 00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:38,480 Speaker 1: want to be super careful with that, obviously, because it's 263 00:16:38,480 --> 00:16:42,280 Speaker 1: a massive amount of destruction. Now, there's another method for 264 00:16:42,400 --> 00:16:48,040 Speaker 1: detonating it nuclear weapon called the implosion method, in which 265 00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:51,600 Speaker 1: high explosives around the tamper. So again that uranium two 266 00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:58,360 Speaker 1: eight typically uh explosive surrounding it create a powerful shock 267 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:01,480 Speaker 1: wave when they go off. So the explosives go off, 268 00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:06,760 Speaker 1: creates a shock wave generated into the center of this 269 00:17:07,800 --> 00:17:10,920 Speaker 1: that compresses the tamper and thus compresses the fission norble 270 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:14,840 Speaker 1: core inside the tamper, and that triggers the fission ng reaction, 271 00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:17,080 Speaker 1: and you get the same result as the one I 272 00:17:17,080 --> 00:17:21,640 Speaker 1: mentioned earlier. Now, in World War Two, we dropped two 273 00:17:21,640 --> 00:17:24,720 Speaker 1: atomic bombs. We the United States dropped two atomic bombs 274 00:17:24,760 --> 00:17:28,159 Speaker 1: on Japan. One of them called Little Boy, and that 275 00:17:28,320 --> 00:17:31,120 Speaker 1: was a uranium bullet style bomb. The other was called 276 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:34,000 Speaker 1: Fat man, and that was an implosion style bomb, and 277 00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:36,720 Speaker 1: it also used plutonium two thirty nine as its core, 278 00:17:36,840 --> 00:17:42,480 Speaker 1: not uranium, but plutonium nine. Later, a guy named Edward Teller, 279 00:17:42,520 --> 00:17:46,080 Speaker 1: who we've talked about on tech stuff before, improve the 280 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:49,959 Speaker 1: yield of nuclear weapons using what is called the boosting method. 281 00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:56,280 Speaker 1: This combines fusion reactions with fission bombs. The fusion reactions 282 00:17:56,280 --> 00:18:00,280 Speaker 1: would create the neutrons, which then would trigg are the 283 00:18:00,359 --> 00:18:04,439 Speaker 1: fission reactions at a really high rate, so more efficiently, 284 00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:06,840 Speaker 1: so you you get more of the fission norble material 285 00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:12,560 Speaker 1: to split, thus generating more energy, and nearly of American 286 00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:16,760 Speaker 1: nuclear weapons follow that particular design. But then you've also 287 00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:20,040 Speaker 1: got fusion bombs. Now, fusion is when you fuse two 288 00:18:20,119 --> 00:18:23,240 Speaker 1: atoms together and you still get a big release of 289 00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:29,400 Speaker 1: energy in this process. H Essentially, these bombs fuse hydrogen 290 00:18:29,640 --> 00:18:36,199 Speaker 1: isotopes including deuterium and tritium together and that ends up 291 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:38,520 Speaker 1: releasing an enormous amount of energy. So to explode a 292 00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:42,080 Speaker 1: bomb of this type, you reverse the roles of fusion 293 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:44,440 Speaker 1: and fission. You know, I just mentioned that to make 294 00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:48,600 Speaker 1: a really efficient fission bomb, you could incorporate fusion into 295 00:18:48,680 --> 00:18:50,680 Speaker 1: it as well. Well. In this case, you're talking about 296 00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:54,440 Speaker 1: using fission reactions in order to fuel a fusion reaction 297 00:18:54,480 --> 00:18:57,440 Speaker 1: which will generate the massive amount of energy for the bomb. 298 00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:03,400 Speaker 1: So the fission bomb would create an implosion shock wave, 299 00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:06,160 Speaker 1: kind of like the explosives I talked about in the 300 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:11,080 Speaker 1: previous example with fat Man. And in that shock wave 301 00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:13,320 Speaker 1: you would also get a release of X rays. That's 302 00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:15,760 Speaker 1: one of the types of energy you would get as 303 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:20,080 Speaker 1: released from a fission reaction. The X rays will end 304 00:19:20,160 --> 00:19:23,080 Speaker 1: up heating the tamper, which you still have, just like 305 00:19:23,119 --> 00:19:25,919 Speaker 1: you would with the other types of nuclear weapons, and 306 00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:29,840 Speaker 1: that would still be uranium to eight typically inside of 307 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:34,160 Speaker 1: which is a fuel of lithium deuteride, and that would 308 00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:36,359 Speaker 1: end up heating up because the X rays, the X 309 00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:39,840 Speaker 1: rays heat up the the lithium deuteride. The shock wave 310 00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:42,959 Speaker 1: would compress the lithium deuteride by a factor of like thirty. 311 00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:47,639 Speaker 1: It's crazy how compressed it gets. And also inside the 312 00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:50,760 Speaker 1: tampa is a plutonium rod which would start to fission 313 00:19:51,080 --> 00:19:54,000 Speaker 1: as result of all this, and that would release more 314 00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:58,120 Speaker 1: heat more neutrons. Those neutrons would combine with the compressed 315 00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:03,120 Speaker 1: lithium deuteride to fuel to create tritium so you then 316 00:20:03,240 --> 00:20:07,200 Speaker 1: have enough temperature and pressure to support fusion reactions. That's 317 00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:10,800 Speaker 1: one of the problems with nuclear fusion power plants is 318 00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:13,359 Speaker 1: that you have to create such an intense amount of 319 00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:16,919 Speaker 1: pressure and temperature that the energy you pour in is 320 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:20,040 Speaker 1: equal to or greater than the energy you're getting out 321 00:20:20,080 --> 00:20:23,479 Speaker 1: of the actual fusion. Well, in a bomb, that's not 322 00:20:23,560 --> 00:20:26,320 Speaker 1: so much a concern. You want to generate as much 323 00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:29,359 Speaker 1: of this heat and pressure as you possibly can, so 324 00:20:29,440 --> 00:20:33,639 Speaker 1: because the fission reactions are creating that tremendous amount of 325 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:36,520 Speaker 1: heat and pressure, nuclear fusion can actually occur, and you 326 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:41,600 Speaker 1: start getting tritium deuterium and deuterium deuterium reactions, and that 327 00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:45,160 Speaker 1: generates even more heat and more radiation, which is enough 328 00:20:45,200 --> 00:20:48,360 Speaker 1: to induce fission in the uranium two thirty eight tamper. 329 00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:53,240 Speaker 1: So remember the uranium two thirty eight tamper doesn't typically 330 00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:57,760 Speaker 1: fission in most of these bombs, it requires so much 331 00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:00,280 Speaker 1: energy to do that, But these fusion bombs can actually 332 00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:02,879 Speaker 1: create that kind of energy. The combination of all that 333 00:21:03,040 --> 00:21:06,600 Speaker 1: energy is enormous, and then the bomb explodes, releasing it 334 00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:11,680 Speaker 1: into the environment. Now, at the point of explosion, you 335 00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:16,760 Speaker 1: would easily imagine there's an intense release of an incredible 336 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:20,159 Speaker 1: amount of heat, and the blast also creates a really 337 00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:24,639 Speaker 1: powerful pressure wave moving outward from the point of explosion. Then, 338 00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:27,960 Speaker 1: on top of that, you've got the radiation, the energy 339 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:31,000 Speaker 1: being radiated radiated out like gamma rays and other very 340 00:21:31,080 --> 00:21:35,040 Speaker 1: harmful forms of radiation, followed by radiation fallout, which is 341 00:21:35,080 --> 00:21:41,400 Speaker 1: typically radioactive dust and debris that originated inside the bomb itself. 342 00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:46,840 Speaker 1: Stuff close to the hypocenter, which is another term for 343 00:21:46,920 --> 00:21:52,080 Speaker 1: ground zero, would be vaporized because of the temperatures involved. 344 00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:56,119 Speaker 1: We're talking three hundred million degrees celsius or five hundred 345 00:21:56,160 --> 00:22:00,760 Speaker 1: million degrees fahrenheit. Further out from the center of the 346 00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:04,480 Speaker 1: pressure wave could cause entire buildings to collapse because it's 347 00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:07,399 Speaker 1: so powerful, and the heat is still intense enough to 348 00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:12,240 Speaker 1: cause fatalities. It's hot enough to burn people alive even 349 00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:14,719 Speaker 1: if you're not right there at the point of explosion. 350 00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:19,040 Speaker 1: The further out you go, the less effect those initial 351 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:22,240 Speaker 1: events will have. The heat will become less intense the 352 00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:25,560 Speaker 1: further out. The pressure wave less effective further out, but 353 00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:27,840 Speaker 1: there are a lot of secondary problems that could still 354 00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:33,000 Speaker 1: be life threatening, including things like fallout, radiation fallout, is 355 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:35,679 Speaker 1: going to spread really far and will continue to spread 356 00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:39,280 Speaker 1: based upon prevailing winds of the area, and also stuff 357 00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:41,960 Speaker 1: like fires. The heat's going to be hot enough to 358 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:43,840 Speaker 1: generate a lot of fires and a lot of areas, 359 00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:47,160 Speaker 1: and that could that could end up being a very 360 00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:58,680 Speaker 1: um prevalent and immediate danger to you. So that's cheerful, right. 361 00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:03,320 Speaker 1: New clear weapons are terrifying, There's no question about it. Uh. 362 00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:06,960 Speaker 1: They can reach devastation greater than anything humans have ever witnessed. 363 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:10,200 Speaker 1: And since World War Two, many have worked really hard 364 00:23:10,200 --> 00:23:13,600 Speaker 1: to make sure no more nuclear weapons see use ever again. 365 00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:17,840 Speaker 1: But we've had a whole lot of close calls and 366 00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:20,080 Speaker 1: I'm gonna go more into that in just a minute, 367 00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:24,080 Speaker 1: but first let's take a quick break to thank our sponsor. 368 00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:37,440 Speaker 1: All Right, We're gonna start with probably the closest we've 369 00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:44,240 Speaker 1: ever been to getting into a full on nuclear confrontation. Uh. 370 00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:46,959 Speaker 1: There were other events that happened before this, and there 371 00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:48,960 Speaker 1: are other events that happened after this, and I'll cover 372 00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:51,680 Speaker 1: some of those later on, but let's start with the granddaddy, 373 00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:56,360 Speaker 1: the big one. That would be October nineteen sixty two, 374 00:23:56,640 --> 00:23:59,720 Speaker 1: when the United States of America and the then Soviet 375 00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:03,480 Speaker 1: un and we're at the height of the Cold War. 376 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:07,639 Speaker 1: So you had these two powerful countries standing in opposition 377 00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:10,720 Speaker 1: to each other, and both were building up their respective 378 00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:14,000 Speaker 1: militaries and arsenals in an effort to stay on top 379 00:24:14,119 --> 00:24:19,360 Speaker 1: or at least not fall behind their great rival. Has 380 00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:22,320 Speaker 1: a pretty terrifying time for everybody, whether you lived in 381 00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:25,359 Speaker 1: the Soviet Union or the United States or one of 382 00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:29,480 Speaker 1: countless other nations that felt helpless because these two giants 383 00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:35,679 Speaker 1: were posturing against each other. And Uh, one could argue, 384 00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:38,280 Speaker 1: we're sort of returning to that kind of world now, 385 00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:42,280 Speaker 1: but that's really a discussion for a different show. Anyway. 386 00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:45,720 Speaker 1: In October ninety two, an event called the Cuban Missile 387 00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:50,560 Speaker 1: Crisis happened. This was a nuclear game of chess between 388 00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:53,320 Speaker 1: the White House and the Kremlin, and it was the 389 00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:56,160 Speaker 1: closest the United States and the uss are ever got 390 00:24:56,200 --> 00:25:01,480 Speaker 1: to a full fledged nuclear conflict on both sides. Uh. 391 00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:04,240 Speaker 1: This at least, this was the closest anyone got. That 392 00:25:04,400 --> 00:25:09,600 Speaker 1: wasn't the creation of a computational error. More on those 393 00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:13,359 Speaker 1: types of close calls in a little bit. So to 394 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:15,520 Speaker 1: catch you guys up on some history in case you 395 00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:18,879 Speaker 1: don't know about the Cuban Missile Crisis. The government in 396 00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:22,359 Speaker 1: Cuba was Communist and that was something that made the 397 00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:26,520 Speaker 1: United States government really nervous. So the US attempted to 398 00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:30,760 Speaker 1: overthrow the Cuban government, but that was a total disaster. 399 00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:33,399 Speaker 1: That was the Bay of Pigs invasion, as well as 400 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:37,480 Speaker 1: some other events that were around that time. Meanwhile, the 401 00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:41,640 Speaker 1: Soviet Union had reached an agreement with Cuba. The sovi 402 00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:47,160 Speaker 1: Union would install nuclear missiles and nuclear aircraft nuclear capable 403 00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:51,600 Speaker 1: aircraft in Cuba as a deterrent to US invasions, and 404 00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:54,040 Speaker 1: it would also serve as a handy launchpad for a 405 00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:56,680 Speaker 1: strike against the U S should things devolve into a 406 00:25:56,760 --> 00:26:00,520 Speaker 1: nuclear war. Now, the United States got wind of that plan, 407 00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:04,760 Speaker 1: and President Kennedy issued a warning to the Soviet Union 408 00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:08,840 Speaker 1: and essentially said, hey, stop putting stuff in Cuba, man, 409 00:26:09,440 --> 00:26:15,080 Speaker 1: it's not cool, especially nuclear stuff, all right. On October fourteenth, 410 00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:19,000 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty two, American spy aircraft captured images of what 411 00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:24,080 Speaker 1: was clearly medium and intermediate range ballistic nuclear missile sites 412 00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:27,880 Speaker 1: under construction in Cuba, and they were close to being finished. 413 00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:30,800 Speaker 1: They were on the fast track, and thus the Cuban 414 00:26:30,800 --> 00:26:35,960 Speaker 1: Missile Crisis was born. Kennedy ordered what he called a 415 00:26:36,080 --> 00:26:40,720 Speaker 1: naval quarantine on Cuba on October two. Now, this was 416 00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:44,159 Speaker 1: essentially a blockade, except they didn't call it a blockade. 417 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:47,480 Speaker 1: They gave it the name quarantine because blockade suggests an 418 00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:50,280 Speaker 1: act of war, and they didn't want that to be 419 00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:53,320 Speaker 1: the case. And it's amazing to me how word choice 420 00:26:53,359 --> 00:26:56,560 Speaker 1: can somehow make two things that are essentially the same 421 00:26:57,160 --> 00:27:01,719 Speaker 1: legally distinct. But I digress. The Soviet Union wasn't just 422 00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:04,720 Speaker 1: trying to poke the United States in this case. It 423 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:07,840 Speaker 1: wasn't just an instance of them saying we're trying to 424 00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:11,040 Speaker 1: get the edge on you. The Soviets were concerned because 425 00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:15,320 Speaker 1: the United States had Jupiter missile systems stationed in Turkey, 426 00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:19,359 Speaker 1: so they were within striking range of the Soviet Union, 427 00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:24,160 Speaker 1: and the Soviet Union one of those missiles out of Turkey. 428 00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:28,480 Speaker 1: Installing missiles in Cuba would kind of level things out, 429 00:27:29,320 --> 00:27:34,760 Speaker 1: but simultaneous, simultaneously, rather escalate tensions, you know, like that 430 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:40,200 Speaker 1: super fun, awesome combo. So while you had the president 431 00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:42,000 Speaker 1: of the United States and the premier of the Soviet 432 00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:45,200 Speaker 1: Union arguing with each other and trying to convince each 433 00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:49,040 Speaker 1: other to back off, things were getting really really tense 434 00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:54,000 Speaker 1: around an inside Cuba, And what most most folks didn't 435 00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:57,879 Speaker 1: know for a really long time was that the area 436 00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:02,400 Speaker 1: around Cuba was host to full were secret submarines, Soviet 437 00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:08,760 Speaker 1: submarines armed with nuclear tipped torpedoes, and the submarines were 438 00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:12,040 Speaker 1: told to use those nuclear weapons in the event that 439 00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:17,440 Speaker 1: the Americans attacked Cuba and attempt another invasion, which was 440 00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:20,199 Speaker 1: an option that the White House was seriously considering at 441 00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:23,840 Speaker 1: the time, and several of the President's advisors were actually 442 00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:28,960 Speaker 1: advocating for an air strike against Cuba. So imagine if 443 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:32,639 Speaker 1: that air strike had happened and these submarine commanders were 444 00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:36,840 Speaker 1: following orders that would have initiated a nuclear strike against 445 00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:42,160 Speaker 1: the United States, and then October nineteen sixty two happened. 446 00:28:43,280 --> 00:28:47,120 Speaker 1: So conditions were not great. Cuba, in case you're not aware, 447 00:28:47,560 --> 00:28:51,280 Speaker 1: is much warmer than the USSR, and the submarines were 448 00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:54,960 Speaker 1: ill equipped to deal with that heat. They ran on 449 00:28:55,120 --> 00:28:59,280 Speaker 1: diesel engines, and they had battery power as well, and 450 00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:02,680 Speaker 1: occasionally they would have to resurface to recharge their batteries. 451 00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:05,440 Speaker 1: The air conditioning systems were not very good on these 452 00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:08,240 Speaker 1: submarines and they would fail pretty frequently, so it would 453 00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:12,120 Speaker 1: get stifling, lee hot, and stuffy inside of them. And 454 00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:17,160 Speaker 1: then you had this constant tension of aggression surrounding these crews, 455 00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:20,720 Speaker 1: plus the directive that you were to launch a nuclear 456 00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:24,239 Speaker 1: attack against one of the most powerful nations on the 457 00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:28,840 Speaker 1: planet in the event of any sort of military aggression 458 00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:33,800 Speaker 1: against Cuba, and it was pretty much a cocktail for disaster. 459 00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:37,479 Speaker 1: On top of that, you would know that any attack 460 00:29:37,520 --> 00:29:41,560 Speaker 1: you made against the United States would be returned against 461 00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:44,920 Speaker 1: the Soviet Union, there would be a retaliatory strike, and 462 00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:49,240 Speaker 1: that this would initiate a full global conflict. So it 463 00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:54,760 Speaker 1: was serious business. Now. Making matters worse than that, as 464 00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:57,160 Speaker 1: if you can imagine such a thing, was the fact 465 00:29:57,200 --> 00:30:01,640 Speaker 1: that the Soviet subs didn't have any contact with their headquarters. 466 00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:05,160 Speaker 1: They could not get in contact with Moscow. The best 467 00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:08,920 Speaker 1: they could manage was picking up radio signals from a 468 00:30:08,960 --> 00:30:13,600 Speaker 1: civilian broadcast station in Florida, so they're getting all their 469 00:30:13,640 --> 00:30:18,360 Speaker 1: news from a US source in Florida, not from headquarters. 470 00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:24,680 Speaker 1: American forces eventually spotted the submarines, so they did what 471 00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:30,000 Speaker 1: was under the rules for Americans at the time, which 472 00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:33,560 Speaker 1: was if they spotted submarines in the area, they set 473 00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:39,800 Speaker 1: off signaling charges. Now, signaling charge is an explosive, so 474 00:30:39,880 --> 00:30:43,760 Speaker 1: they were setting off explosives in the ocean near these submarines. Now, 475 00:30:43,760 --> 00:30:46,440 Speaker 1: the purpose of the explosions was not to cause any 476 00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:49,120 Speaker 1: damage to the submarines. They were supposed to be harmless, 477 00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:50,880 Speaker 1: and in fact they were in this case harmless. They 478 00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:53,680 Speaker 1: did not cause damage to the submarines. What they're supposed 479 00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:56,080 Speaker 1: to do is essentially be the equivalent of knocking on 480 00:30:56,120 --> 00:31:00,120 Speaker 1: someone's door saying, hey, I know your home. Come to 481 00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:02,800 Speaker 1: the door, except in this case it's hey, I know 482 00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:07,560 Speaker 1: you're in their surface, because otherwise we're gonna consider it 483 00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:13,680 Speaker 1: a threat. So obviously increasing tensions even further. So you 484 00:31:13,680 --> 00:31:17,640 Speaker 1: would imagine that setting explosions off near nuclear armed submarines 485 00:31:17,760 --> 00:31:20,960 Speaker 1: is potentially a disastrous idea, and it could have been. 486 00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:24,400 Speaker 1: But no one fired any nuclear weapons at that stage, 487 00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:29,040 Speaker 1: and that's amazing. It was super close. Tensions could not 488 00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:34,200 Speaker 1: have been higher without any actual fighting, but but no 489 00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:39,240 Speaker 1: one pulled the trigger on that. Now, the US had 490 00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:42,480 Speaker 1: moved to def Con three earlier in October. So def 491 00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:46,800 Speaker 1: con stands for defense condition, and there are five levels 492 00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:49,440 Speaker 1: of def con and they get worse the lower the 493 00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:54,320 Speaker 1: number is, so def Con five is the the best. 494 00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:58,800 Speaker 1: Defcon one is the most dangerous. So the lower the number, 495 00:31:58,800 --> 00:32:02,480 Speaker 1: the closer the US is to maximum combat readiness. So, 496 00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:04,880 Speaker 1: in other words, Defcon one means the US is ready 497 00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:09,040 Speaker 1: to commit some massive military power in an act of war. 498 00:32:10,760 --> 00:32:16,240 Speaker 1: Level three means increase enforce readiness above normal readiness. So 499 00:32:16,400 --> 00:32:18,720 Speaker 1: that was the level they were at earlier in October, 500 00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:23,000 Speaker 1: was an increased level of readiness. As I recorded this, 501 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:27,840 Speaker 1: we stand at Defcon four. Defcon four means normal increased 502 00:32:27,880 --> 00:32:33,280 Speaker 1: intelligence and strengthened security measures, so normal readiness, but we're 503 00:32:33,320 --> 00:32:36,400 Speaker 1: paying way more attention than we would be at Defcon five. 504 00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:41,680 Speaker 1: Defcon five just means normal peacetime readiness. Sure, it would 505 00:32:41,720 --> 00:32:44,520 Speaker 1: be nice to be there, but for the United States, 506 00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:48,120 Speaker 1: the actions of North Korea and Russia recently have made 507 00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:51,000 Speaker 1: this complicated. So we've been at Defcon four. Oh, in 508 00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:56,360 Speaker 1: China too, to some extent. Anyway, by October, the United 509 00:32:56,360 --> 00:32:59,840 Speaker 1: States had decided to bump this up to Defcon level two, 510 00:33:01,120 --> 00:33:04,440 Speaker 1: which is further increase in force readiness but less than 511 00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:10,239 Speaker 1: maximum readiness, which I don't know how you determine that. 512 00:33:10,560 --> 00:33:13,080 Speaker 1: If you just ask people, Hey, are you guys ready? 513 00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:14,800 Speaker 1: And if they say yes, and you say are you 514 00:33:14,880 --> 00:33:16,680 Speaker 1: as ready as you can be? And they say no, 515 00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:22,680 Speaker 1: then I guess maybe that's it. Anyway, I would say, 516 00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:25,960 Speaker 1: if we were to translate this, this would come into uh, 517 00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:28,760 Speaker 1: you know, yo hold me back, bro level. That would 518 00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:31,240 Speaker 1: be essentially what Defcon level two is is YO, hold 519 00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:33,680 Speaker 1: me back. So you're ready to swing your fist, but 520 00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:37,840 Speaker 1: you're not actively swinging your fist. And it shows that 521 00:33:37,880 --> 00:33:41,200 Speaker 1: the tensions were really at a high point. So it 522 00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:44,240 Speaker 1: was not a sure thing that cooler heads would actually 523 00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:47,640 Speaker 1: prevail on that day in October on those Soviet submarines. 524 00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:50,880 Speaker 1: I'm thankful they did, though, but it was never a 525 00:33:50,920 --> 00:33:55,960 Speaker 1: sure thing. Now. In the end, Soviets removed their missiles 526 00:33:55,960 --> 00:33:59,760 Speaker 1: and bombers from Cuba, and later the United States removed 527 00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:03,720 Speaker 1: their Jupiter missile installations from Turkey, and apparently there had 528 00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:05,560 Speaker 1: been the plan the whole time. The United States was 529 00:34:05,600 --> 00:34:09,520 Speaker 1: already planning on removing those missile installations in Turkey, which 530 00:34:09,560 --> 00:34:12,840 Speaker 1: was one of the demands the Soviet Union had had, saying, Hey, 531 00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:14,200 Speaker 1: if we're going to pull out a cub but you 532 00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:18,839 Speaker 1: gotta pull up Turkey. But the US didn't agree upon 533 00:34:18,880 --> 00:34:22,640 Speaker 1: it as a point of negotiation, even though they had 534 00:34:22,640 --> 00:34:27,880 Speaker 1: already planned on doing that. So that was interesting that 535 00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:30,799 Speaker 1: the US had planned on removing those missiles, but they 536 00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:33,040 Speaker 1: did not agree to having that be part of the 537 00:34:33,200 --> 00:34:37,879 Speaker 1: terms to settle this crisis. Uh maybe because it might 538 00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:40,759 Speaker 1: have made the country look weak or something. I don't know. 539 00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:44,040 Speaker 1: I don't pretend to understand global politics. The point is 540 00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:46,960 Speaker 1: that both the United States and the USS are backed 541 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:49,560 Speaker 1: off from the button and opened up a channel of 542 00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:52,640 Speaker 1: communication that still exists to this day, this hot line 543 00:34:52,760 --> 00:34:56,200 Speaker 1: between the Kremlin and the White House, though there are 544 00:34:56,239 --> 00:34:58,279 Speaker 1: times when one site isn't that eager to take the 545 00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:02,399 Speaker 1: other side's calls, and by backed off, I don't mean 546 00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:05,520 Speaker 1: that things calmed down right away. The US Strategic Air 547 00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:09,319 Speaker 1: Command or s A C remained at def Conto from 548 00:35:09,320 --> 00:35:15,319 Speaker 1: October twenty nine to November fift nineteen sixty five, so 549 00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:19,600 Speaker 1: more than three years. Only then did it quote unquote 550 00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:25,640 Speaker 1: posture down to def Con three because it was scary. Now. 551 00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:27,799 Speaker 1: I've recorded a few other shows that also tie into 552 00:35:27,840 --> 00:35:31,600 Speaker 1: this same era in various ways. For example, the Space 553 00:35:31,719 --> 00:35:36,120 Speaker 1: Race was largely an extension of the Cold War. In fact, 554 00:35:36,160 --> 00:35:38,239 Speaker 1: you could argue that without the Cold War, we never 555 00:35:38,239 --> 00:35:41,320 Speaker 1: would have been to the moon. Both the Soviet Union 556 00:35:41,400 --> 00:35:44,440 Speaker 1: and the United States were racing to send people into 557 00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:47,080 Speaker 1: space and to the Moon, and it was in part 558 00:35:47,160 --> 00:35:50,319 Speaker 1: an effort to prove that they that their country was 559 00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:54,120 Speaker 1: technologically superior to the rival country. But there was also 560 00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:57,960 Speaker 1: an element of intimidation involved. So essentially, if you could 561 00:35:57,960 --> 00:36:01,400 Speaker 1: send a rocket into orbit, you could also send a 562 00:36:01,520 --> 00:36:04,759 Speaker 1: rocket all the way around the Earth and hit a 563 00:36:04,840 --> 00:36:08,400 Speaker 1: target on the other side, like say the United States 564 00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:10,520 Speaker 1: from the Soviet Union or the Soviet Union from the 565 00:36:10,560 --> 00:36:14,920 Speaker 1: United States. So in part, the space race was a 566 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:19,840 Speaker 1: way of saying, hey, we have the capability of wiping 567 00:36:19,880 --> 00:36:24,120 Speaker 1: you off the planet, so don't push us. The thing 568 00:36:24,239 --> 00:36:29,840 Speaker 1: was both sides were making that argument at the same time. Again, 569 00:36:29,880 --> 00:36:33,000 Speaker 1: absolutely terrifying, although we got some awesome stuff out of it. 570 00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:35,960 Speaker 1: I mean, the space race gave us tons of technology 571 00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:40,080 Speaker 1: and pushed our scientific understanding of our solar system quite 572 00:36:40,080 --> 00:36:43,400 Speaker 1: a bit, so it's not like it was all bad, 573 00:36:43,800 --> 00:36:48,960 Speaker 1: but the motivations behind it were largely motivated by politics 574 00:36:49,040 --> 00:36:54,399 Speaker 1: and military goals. Luckily we were able to leverage that 575 00:36:54,680 --> 00:37:02,120 Speaker 1: into ways that we're not indirectly connected to conflict. But yeah, 576 00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:07,280 Speaker 1: once once the Soviet Union launched Sputnik into orbit. Sput 577 00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:10,759 Speaker 1: Nick was the satellite, the first man made satellite in 578 00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:13,080 Speaker 1: orbit around the Earth. All it did was really beep, 579 00:37:13,520 --> 00:37:16,880 Speaker 1: but amateur radio operators in the United States picked up 580 00:37:16,920 --> 00:37:19,720 Speaker 1: the beeping and it caused quite a bit of panic 581 00:37:19,800 --> 00:37:23,279 Speaker 1: because suddenly everyone realized that if the Union could launch 582 00:37:23,360 --> 00:37:25,840 Speaker 1: something into orbit, they could probably launch something all the 583 00:37:25,880 --> 00:37:30,120 Speaker 1: way to the United States. Uh, the intercontal in, the 584 00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:33,640 Speaker 1: intercontinental ballistic missile or i c b M, was essentially 585 00:37:33,680 --> 00:37:39,360 Speaker 1: born at that point. Anyway, let's go back to close 586 00:37:39,400 --> 00:37:41,960 Speaker 1: calls with nuclear war, because that's really what we're here 587 00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:44,520 Speaker 1: to talk about. And let's jump ahead to November nine 588 00:37:44,680 --> 00:37:49,400 Speaker 1: ninety nine. That's when the North American Aerospace Defense Headquarters, 589 00:37:49,480 --> 00:37:54,200 Speaker 1: or nora AD for short, went bonkers. I would say 590 00:37:54,200 --> 00:37:57,799 Speaker 1: that they went ballistic, but luckily they didn't, because that 591 00:37:57,800 --> 00:38:00,560 Speaker 1: would have been a terrible, terrifying pun In that case, 592 00:38:02,080 --> 00:38:05,680 Speaker 1: according to the computer systems over at nora AD, a 593 00:38:05,800 --> 00:38:08,560 Speaker 1: huge missile attack from the Soviet Union was on its 594 00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:11,840 Speaker 1: way to targets within the United States. And this is 595 00:38:11,880 --> 00:38:14,960 Speaker 1: what we often in the technology world would call a 596 00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:18,520 Speaker 1: bad thing. So nora AD was following protocol and they 597 00:38:18,520 --> 00:38:21,200 Speaker 1: sent an alert to high level command posts and the 598 00:38:21,239 --> 00:38:24,880 Speaker 1: tippy top of US military leadership, and immediately the command 599 00:38:24,920 --> 00:38:27,960 Speaker 1: was given to put I C B M Cruise on 600 00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:33,160 Speaker 1: the highest possible alert, and nuclear bomber crews were scrambled 601 00:38:33,160 --> 00:38:37,000 Speaker 1: to their aircraft to prepare for takeoff. The airborne command Post, 602 00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:39,719 Speaker 1: which is the aircraft that the President of the United 603 00:38:39,760 --> 00:38:42,480 Speaker 1: States is supposed to be a board in the event 604 00:38:42,600 --> 00:38:46,000 Speaker 1: of a massive attack. This is what creates a mobile 605 00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:50,240 Speaker 1: base of operations. It took off, so the airboard command 606 00:38:50,320 --> 00:38:53,799 Speaker 1: Post took off into the atmosphere. Uh, the President wasn't 607 00:38:53,960 --> 00:38:56,600 Speaker 1: on it at the time, which seems like a bit 608 00:38:56,600 --> 00:39:01,040 Speaker 1: of an oversight, but it did take off. So for 609 00:39:01,160 --> 00:39:06,000 Speaker 1: more than five incredibly tense minutes, United States operators were 610 00:39:06,040 --> 00:39:10,160 Speaker 1: scouring satellite data to confirm that the Soviets had indeed 611 00:39:10,400 --> 00:39:14,799 Speaker 1: launched missiles against the United States. They had the information 612 00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:17,920 Speaker 1: from the Nora D computers, but they wanted, obviously to 613 00:39:20,040 --> 00:39:24,319 Speaker 1: confirmed that information with satellite data, but they couldn't find 614 00:39:24,360 --> 00:39:28,760 Speaker 1: any data to confirm it. United States leaders decided magnanimously 615 00:39:29,320 --> 00:39:32,040 Speaker 1: not to launch a full scale retaliation, which is a 616 00:39:32,160 --> 00:39:35,120 Speaker 1: good thing because it would have turned out that they 617 00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:37,640 Speaker 1: would have been committing a first strike. There was nothing 618 00:39:37,680 --> 00:39:42,360 Speaker 1: to retaliate against. So what the heck actually happened? And 619 00:39:42,400 --> 00:39:45,520 Speaker 1: the answer is pretty crazy, and it sounds like something 620 00:39:45,600 --> 00:39:49,480 Speaker 1: from a movie like Airplane. It sounds like a deleted 621 00:39:49,520 --> 00:39:54,560 Speaker 1: scene from a disaster spoof movie. What had happened was 622 00:39:54,600 --> 00:39:59,520 Speaker 1: a technician had inserted a training tape into an operational 623 00:39:59,600 --> 00:40:05,680 Speaker 1: nora ADD computer. The training tape contained various scenarios on it, 624 00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:09,040 Speaker 1: including one in which the Soviet Union launches a full 625 00:40:09,080 --> 00:40:12,520 Speaker 1: scale missile attack against the United States. And this was 626 00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:15,880 Speaker 1: just to run simulations, to run what would happen in 627 00:40:15,880 --> 00:40:18,840 Speaker 1: this case and how effective would a retaliatory strike be. 628 00:40:19,320 --> 00:40:21,400 Speaker 1: That's all it was. But it was being run on 629 00:40:21,440 --> 00:40:25,080 Speaker 1: an operational nora AD computer, which interpreted this to mean 630 00:40:25,120 --> 00:40:28,120 Speaker 1: the Soviet Union had actually launched an attack, not that 631 00:40:28,160 --> 00:40:32,760 Speaker 1: it was a simulation. So a training tape very nearly 632 00:40:32,800 --> 00:40:37,160 Speaker 1: started World War Three. In ninety nine, the United States 633 00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:41,479 Speaker 1: wisely decided that it would be a really good idea 634 00:40:41,520 --> 00:40:43,879 Speaker 1: to make sure nora AD computers would not be able 635 00:40:43,920 --> 00:40:46,880 Speaker 1: to run training tapes in the future, and so they 636 00:40:47,280 --> 00:40:50,839 Speaker 1: nerved it. Essentially, they removed that ability for nora AD 637 00:40:50,880 --> 00:40:56,200 Speaker 1: computers to run these simulations. Now I've got a lot 638 00:40:56,239 --> 00:40:58,520 Speaker 1: more to talk about as far as false alarms and 639 00:40:58,600 --> 00:41:01,400 Speaker 1: close calls go. But before to jump into that last section, 640 00:41:01,480 --> 00:41:11,680 Speaker 1: let's take another quick break to thank our sponsor. So 641 00:41:11,719 --> 00:41:17,200 Speaker 1: these sort of things happened really rarely, right, please not? 642 00:41:17,320 --> 00:41:21,239 Speaker 1: According to Marshall Shulman, who was a State Department advisor, 643 00:41:21,640 --> 00:41:24,879 Speaker 1: he said that false alerts would happen fairly regularly, which 644 00:41:24,920 --> 00:41:29,239 Speaker 1: is absolutely terrifying, and in fact said they happened regularly 645 00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:33,080 Speaker 1: enough that handling them almost became a matter of routine, 646 00:41:33,120 --> 00:41:35,440 Speaker 1: which is troubling all by itself. And that's that's what 647 00:41:35,520 --> 00:41:39,080 Speaker 1: Shulman said. He said, it's almost terrifying to see the 648 00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:42,560 Speaker 1: level of complacency in dealing with these because they happened 649 00:41:42,560 --> 00:41:46,000 Speaker 1: that frequently. I mean, you want your team to respond 650 00:41:46,080 --> 00:41:50,640 Speaker 1: calmly in the wake of an alert, because you want 651 00:41:50,640 --> 00:41:52,760 Speaker 1: to make sure that they are going through the steps 652 00:41:52,840 --> 00:41:56,759 Speaker 1: to verify that it is in fact at what it 653 00:41:56,840 --> 00:41:59,960 Speaker 1: seems to be. You don't want them acting on misinformation, 654 00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:03,080 Speaker 1: shan At the same time, you don't want them to 655 00:42:03,120 --> 00:42:06,799 Speaker 1: fall victim to boy who cried wolf scenarios where they 656 00:42:06,840 --> 00:42:10,279 Speaker 1: don't take it seriously. Enough so you want to balance there, 657 00:42:10,280 --> 00:42:13,280 Speaker 1: and according to Showman that the complacency issue was getting 658 00:42:13,280 --> 00:42:17,880 Speaker 1: to be a bit troubling for him. Now, just so 659 00:42:18,280 --> 00:42:21,560 Speaker 1: you don't go thinking that the United States was alone 660 00:42:21,640 --> 00:42:25,040 Speaker 1: and having faulty systems, let me tell you about September. 661 00:42:27,880 --> 00:42:30,600 Speaker 1: That is when a Soviet satellite, part of an early 662 00:42:30,680 --> 00:42:34,840 Speaker 1: detection system for missile launches, sent down a message indicating 663 00:42:34,840 --> 00:42:38,920 Speaker 1: the United States had fired a nuclear missile, and then 664 00:42:38,960 --> 00:42:44,800 Speaker 1: another nuclear missile, and then three more nuclear missiles, so 665 00:42:45,040 --> 00:42:48,080 Speaker 1: it might have looked like an initial attack with five 666 00:42:48,120 --> 00:42:52,800 Speaker 1: missiles heading towards the Soviet Union. Now, tensions were already 667 00:42:52,920 --> 00:42:57,040 Speaker 1: high across the Soviet Union and the United States for 668 00:42:57,120 --> 00:43:02,360 Speaker 1: other reasons. Earlier that month, the Soviet Union had shot 669 00:43:02,440 --> 00:43:07,040 Speaker 1: down a South Korean passenger plane thinking that it was 670 00:43:07,160 --> 00:43:10,040 Speaker 1: a military plane invading their airspace, and that's not what 671 00:43:10,120 --> 00:43:14,839 Speaker 1: it was. So it was a tragic accident. But there 672 00:43:14,880 --> 00:43:16,640 Speaker 1: was also a lot of worry that the United States 673 00:43:16,640 --> 00:43:21,960 Speaker 1: could potentially retaliate for this, and so the first reaction 674 00:43:22,000 --> 00:43:24,279 Speaker 1: could have been that this was the US's response to 675 00:43:24,520 --> 00:43:29,440 Speaker 1: that that act. Now, the man in charge over at 676 00:43:29,480 --> 00:43:33,880 Speaker 1: a early detection center in the Soviet Union was Lieutenant 677 00:43:33,880 --> 00:43:38,200 Speaker 1: Colonel Stanislav Petrov, and he held the authority to launch 678 00:43:38,239 --> 00:43:42,680 Speaker 1: a retaliatory strike, but he didn't exercise this authority. He 679 00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:47,359 Speaker 1: deduced that a genuine attack on the Soviet Union from 680 00:43:47,400 --> 00:43:51,160 Speaker 1: the United States would involve hundreds of missiles, not just five. 681 00:43:51,840 --> 00:43:53,640 Speaker 1: He said, you, if you're going to start a war, 682 00:43:53,920 --> 00:43:58,080 Speaker 1: you wouldn't launch only five missiles. It wouldn't be enough 683 00:43:58,719 --> 00:44:01,600 Speaker 1: of a quantity to knock out enough of the Soviet 684 00:44:01,680 --> 00:44:05,360 Speaker 1: Union's capability to retaliate, so it would just be inviting 685 00:44:05,360 --> 00:44:10,600 Speaker 1: worldwide destruction. So Petrov said, I'm pretty sure this isn't real. 686 00:44:11,320 --> 00:44:14,120 Speaker 1: I'm gonna stake my life and my reputation on it, 687 00:44:14,840 --> 00:44:18,600 Speaker 1: and he was right. So then they began to investigate 688 00:44:18,719 --> 00:44:22,880 Speaker 1: what was the cause of this false alarm, because that 689 00:44:23,000 --> 00:44:26,920 Speaker 1: is what it turned out to be. So the cause 690 00:44:27,120 --> 00:44:31,040 Speaker 1: was the satellite itself and had misidentified a reflection from 691 00:44:31,080 --> 00:44:34,640 Speaker 1: the top of some clouds. The sun was hitting these 692 00:44:34,680 --> 00:44:37,560 Speaker 1: clouds at just the right angle for the reflection to 693 00:44:37,640 --> 00:44:41,200 Speaker 1: hit the satellite, and the position the orientation of the 694 00:44:41,239 --> 00:44:43,879 Speaker 1: satellite with respect of the United States made it look 695 00:44:43,960 --> 00:44:48,360 Speaker 1: like this was coming from known US missile launch sites. 696 00:44:49,239 --> 00:44:55,359 Speaker 1: So the satellite misidentified the reflections as missile launches, and 697 00:44:55,400 --> 00:44:58,720 Speaker 1: really the satellite was in a good orbit to avoid 698 00:44:58,760 --> 00:45:02,160 Speaker 1: this kind of miss understanding. The problem was, it was 699 00:45:02,200 --> 00:45:06,200 Speaker 1: just the perfect set of circumstances. It was the equal ox, 700 00:45:07,040 --> 00:45:09,799 Speaker 1: the sun was setting, and the satellite was in a 701 00:45:09,800 --> 00:45:12,120 Speaker 1: position at just the right time with clouds in the 702 00:45:12,200 --> 00:45:17,120 Speaker 1: right position to cause this confusion. And normally it wouldn't 703 00:45:17,120 --> 00:45:19,000 Speaker 1: have happened at any other time of the year. The 704 00:45:19,040 --> 00:45:23,640 Speaker 1: angles wouldn't have been right. It was just a coincidence. Fortunately, 705 00:45:23,760 --> 00:45:27,239 Speaker 1: because there was a human being in charge who had 706 00:45:27,320 --> 00:45:31,880 Speaker 1: the capacity to question the results presented by the satellite, 707 00:45:32,520 --> 00:45:35,759 Speaker 1: we didn't see a nuclear strike from the Soviet Union 708 00:45:35,840 --> 00:45:40,960 Speaker 1: launched at the United States as a result, sometimes a 709 00:45:41,040 --> 00:45:44,600 Speaker 1: science experiment runs the risk of plunging US into nuclear conflict, 710 00:45:45,280 --> 00:45:49,920 Speaker 1: so that's exciting. So for example, there was the Black 711 00:45:49,960 --> 00:45:53,600 Speaker 1: Brand twelve rocket, which was a cooperative effort between the 712 00:45:53,680 --> 00:45:57,240 Speaker 1: United States and Norway UH. It launched out of Norway 713 00:45:58,280 --> 00:46:01,799 Speaker 1: along the coastline of Nora, Way, and it had a 714 00:46:01,840 --> 00:46:05,719 Speaker 1: mission to send up a probe essentially to study the 715 00:46:05,719 --> 00:46:11,279 Speaker 1: northern lights, the Aurora borealis. Norway had picked up the 716 00:46:11,320 --> 00:46:15,120 Speaker 1: phone to call up there Russian neighbors and say, hey, 717 00:46:15,160 --> 00:46:18,520 Speaker 1: by the way, we're gonna launch this satellite, so don't 718 00:46:18,560 --> 00:46:21,080 Speaker 1: freak out, but we're gonna do it on such and 719 00:46:21,120 --> 00:46:24,400 Speaker 1: such a day, at such and such a time. And 720 00:46:24,480 --> 00:46:27,520 Speaker 1: so Russia knew about this. The only problem was that 721 00:46:27,560 --> 00:46:31,200 Speaker 1: information never got to the people in charge of the 722 00:46:31,280 --> 00:46:35,560 Speaker 1: early warning detection systems, so they had no knowledge of 723 00:46:36,080 --> 00:46:44,200 Speaker 1: a planned scientific rocket launch. Instead, they had radar detectors 724 00:46:44,280 --> 00:46:47,920 Speaker 1: looking at their screens and saying, it appears that a 725 00:46:48,000 --> 00:46:52,279 Speaker 1: missile has launched, potentially from the United States submarine and 726 00:46:52,360 --> 00:46:55,320 Speaker 1: on a trajectory that could take it to the Soviet Union. 727 00:46:56,680 --> 00:47:01,040 Speaker 1: So there was immediately a re action that this could 728 00:47:01,040 --> 00:47:04,440 Speaker 1: potentially be an early attack, and in fact, there was 729 00:47:04,480 --> 00:47:07,480 Speaker 1: worry that perhaps this was a warhead meant to explode 730 00:47:07,480 --> 00:47:12,480 Speaker 1: to knockout radar detection so that we can then have 731 00:47:13,360 --> 00:47:16,640 Speaker 1: an entire full blown attack follow it and the radar 732 00:47:16,680 --> 00:47:21,359 Speaker 1: systems would be down. In the meantime, the word went 733 00:47:21,400 --> 00:47:24,359 Speaker 1: up to the Kriblin and Boris Yeltsin went so far 734 00:47:24,400 --> 00:47:28,160 Speaker 1: as to activate his nuclear football. The nuclear football is 735 00:47:28,160 --> 00:47:32,040 Speaker 1: a device that leaders used to authorize a nuclear strike. 736 00:47:34,280 --> 00:47:38,239 Speaker 1: Other radar centers and Russian satellites couldn't find any evidence 737 00:47:38,680 --> 00:47:42,359 Speaker 1: of any other missile preparations, so there was no other 738 00:47:42,640 --> 00:47:45,520 Speaker 1: corroborating evidence to suggest that this was in fact a 739 00:47:45,640 --> 00:47:49,840 Speaker 1: legitimate missile strike aimed at the United States. So this 740 00:47:49,960 --> 00:47:52,720 Speaker 1: led the Russians to conclude it wasn't actually an attack, 741 00:47:53,320 --> 00:47:55,759 Speaker 1: and eventually the word got out that this was a 742 00:47:55,800 --> 00:48:01,440 Speaker 1: scientific mission that had previous authorization and that Russia had 743 00:48:01,480 --> 00:48:04,120 Speaker 1: been in communication with Norway the whole time. It just 744 00:48:04,239 --> 00:48:08,919 Speaker 1: never got to the military side. Whoopsie Daisy almost went 745 00:48:09,000 --> 00:48:12,719 Speaker 1: to full nuclear war over that. And you probably heard 746 00:48:12,719 --> 00:48:15,839 Speaker 1: the story about how a flock of birds nearly initiated 747 00:48:15,840 --> 00:48:19,040 Speaker 1: World War three. That was actually an oversimplification of what 748 00:48:19,160 --> 00:48:22,719 Speaker 1: had happened. It was a story that actually predates the 749 00:48:22,719 --> 00:48:25,800 Speaker 1: Cuban missile crisis. This goes back to the Suez Canal 750 00:48:26,000 --> 00:48:29,239 Speaker 1: crisis in Egypt. The Suez Canal had proven to be 751 00:48:29,280 --> 00:48:32,080 Speaker 1: critical during both World War One and World War Two, 752 00:48:32,560 --> 00:48:36,520 Speaker 1: and so lots of different entities wanted to have control 753 00:48:36,640 --> 00:48:42,120 Speaker 1: over the canal for stretch strategic purposes. This included the 754 00:48:42,160 --> 00:48:46,920 Speaker 1: Soviet Union, Egypt, and the United Kingdom, so you had 755 00:48:46,960 --> 00:48:50,759 Speaker 1: a lot of tensions in the area and the whole 756 00:48:50,760 --> 00:48:54,320 Speaker 1: conflict is way too complex to get into. I'm pretty 757 00:48:54,360 --> 00:48:57,400 Speaker 1: sure the stuff you missed in history class hosts have 758 00:48:57,480 --> 00:49:01,440 Speaker 1: talked about the Suez Canal crisis and the Pasket Uh 759 00:49:01,440 --> 00:49:05,799 Speaker 1: and like I said, it gets super complicated. But I 760 00:49:05,840 --> 00:49:08,720 Speaker 1: can talk about a series of coincidental events that nearly 761 00:49:08,800 --> 00:49:12,719 Speaker 1: led us to World War Three. It happened on November five, 762 00:49:12,920 --> 00:49:19,759 Speaker 1: ninety six. Nora AD detected these coincidental events, which collectively 763 00:49:19,800 --> 00:49:22,399 Speaker 1: looked like it could have been a big aggressive move 764 00:49:22,440 --> 00:49:25,800 Speaker 1: by the Soviet Union, like an actual massing to attack 765 00:49:26,480 --> 00:49:29,560 Speaker 1: other areas of Europe and possibly launched tax attacks against 766 00:49:29,600 --> 00:49:33,360 Speaker 1: the United States. Those coincidences included a fleet of ships 767 00:49:33,760 --> 00:49:37,160 Speaker 1: Soviet ships moving from the Black Sea to the Aegean 768 00:49:37,239 --> 00:49:41,480 Speaker 1: c There were a large number of MiG jets reported 769 00:49:41,520 --> 00:49:46,200 Speaker 1: flying over Syria. There was a report of a British 770 00:49:46,239 --> 00:49:50,799 Speaker 1: bomber being shot down also in Syria, and then there 771 00:49:51,000 --> 00:49:56,080 Speaker 1: was an unknown number of unidentified aircraft detected over Turkey. 772 00:49:56,280 --> 00:49:58,640 Speaker 1: But each of those events turned out to not be 773 00:49:59,040 --> 00:50:02,120 Speaker 1: that big of a deal once the details were learned, 774 00:50:02,200 --> 00:50:06,720 Speaker 1: So it's fortunate that no one thought those collective events 775 00:50:06,840 --> 00:50:10,160 Speaker 1: actually amounted to a full attack. The fleet maneuver turned 776 00:50:10,160 --> 00:50:13,680 Speaker 1: out to just be a routine exercise among the Soviet fleet, 777 00:50:13,760 --> 00:50:15,799 Speaker 1: had nothing to do with any sort of aggressive act. 778 00:50:16,680 --> 00:50:19,200 Speaker 1: The group of MiGs were was much smaller than had 779 00:50:19,239 --> 00:50:21,719 Speaker 1: been reported. It wasn't like a hundred jets. That was 780 00:50:21,760 --> 00:50:28,440 Speaker 1: actually a typical escort detail. The British bomber hadn't been 781 00:50:28,480 --> 00:50:32,200 Speaker 1: shot down, the aircraft had suffered a mechanical failure and 782 00:50:32,239 --> 00:50:35,239 Speaker 1: they had to make an emergency landing in Syria. And 783 00:50:35,320 --> 00:50:38,880 Speaker 1: the mysterious aircraft flying over Turkey turned out to be 784 00:50:39,000 --> 00:50:43,560 Speaker 1: a flock of Swans, which after a lengthy questioning, turned 785 00:50:43,560 --> 00:50:47,719 Speaker 1: out not to be Soviet agents. And let me give 786 00:50:47,760 --> 00:50:51,640 Speaker 1: you one last example of a close call. There are 787 00:50:51,719 --> 00:50:55,040 Speaker 1: more besides this one, by the way, lots more, but 788 00:50:55,640 --> 00:51:00,719 Speaker 1: here's one last one. On June third, defense displays at 789 00:51:00,840 --> 00:51:04,160 Speaker 1: the Pentagon, the White House and a nora Ad flipped out. 790 00:51:05,360 --> 00:51:08,720 Speaker 1: Now they had a display of four digits, which usually 791 00:51:08,760 --> 00:51:13,080 Speaker 1: read as zero zero zero zero, just four zeros straight across. 792 00:51:13,600 --> 00:51:17,239 Speaker 1: These were numbers to indicate any nuclear missiles that had 793 00:51:17,280 --> 00:51:19,919 Speaker 1: been detected as being launched. So you want to see 794 00:51:19,920 --> 00:51:24,160 Speaker 1: all zeros. There's any number besides a zero on that display, 795 00:51:24,360 --> 00:51:27,880 Speaker 1: that's a big problem. The counters began to show the 796 00:51:27,960 --> 00:51:32,240 Speaker 1: number two instead of zero, indicating a massive missile attack, 797 00:51:32,680 --> 00:51:35,920 Speaker 1: and so to be certain, bomber crews were given orders 798 00:51:35,920 --> 00:51:38,840 Speaker 1: to prepare their aircraft and missile launched systems began to 799 00:51:38,840 --> 00:51:42,320 Speaker 1: warm up for a retaliatory strike while the top brass 800 00:51:42,360 --> 00:51:44,600 Speaker 1: tried to figure out if this was in fact for 801 00:51:44,680 --> 00:51:48,880 Speaker 1: real z s or not. Luckily, said brass determined that 802 00:51:48,960 --> 00:51:52,960 Speaker 1: it was not for real z s and uh they 803 00:51:53,200 --> 00:51:57,040 Speaker 1: ordered everyone to stand down. As a result, three days later, 804 00:51:57,120 --> 00:51:59,840 Speaker 1: the same thing happened again, and again everyone got prepared 805 00:52:00,120 --> 00:52:03,600 Speaker 1: or a massive retaliatory strike, and two false alarms that 806 00:52:03,640 --> 00:52:06,839 Speaker 1: could cause a nuclear apocalypse warranted a full look at 807 00:52:06,880 --> 00:52:11,359 Speaker 1: the system. Technicians trace the problem to a single computer chip, 808 00:52:11,600 --> 00:52:15,320 Speaker 1: just one computer chip in the entire system that wasn't 809 00:52:15,560 --> 00:52:19,719 Speaker 1: wired correctly. So replacing that chip solved the problem and 810 00:52:19,760 --> 00:52:22,480 Speaker 1: they stopped having this issue with the display giving a 811 00:52:22,520 --> 00:52:27,920 Speaker 1: false indicator of missile launches. That one faulty chip could 812 00:52:28,000 --> 00:52:31,319 Speaker 1: have resulted in new in a nuclear war or at 813 00:52:31,360 --> 00:52:35,279 Speaker 1: least a nuclear strike, which is absolutely terrifying. So what 814 00:52:35,560 --> 00:52:39,120 Speaker 1: is the moral of the story here, Well, one thing 815 00:52:39,160 --> 00:52:42,799 Speaker 1: is that nuclear weapons are super duper scary. I'd love 816 00:52:42,840 --> 00:52:44,560 Speaker 1: to see them become a thing of the past, but 817 00:52:45,040 --> 00:52:48,440 Speaker 1: they're incredibly powerful, and all it takes is one critical 818 00:52:48,600 --> 00:52:52,640 Speaker 1: error to cause untold amounts of damage or precipitate a 819 00:52:52,680 --> 00:52:57,359 Speaker 1: globally catastrophic series of events. But another lesson to take 820 00:52:57,360 --> 00:52:59,600 Speaker 1: here is that we at least have been fortunate so 821 00:52:59,680 --> 00:53:03,040 Speaker 1: far are to have people calm enough to reevaluate a 822 00:53:03,080 --> 00:53:06,879 Speaker 1: situation before committing the ultimate act of warfare. It's sure 823 00:53:06,880 --> 00:53:10,120 Speaker 1: would be nice if it weren't necessary to say, thank goodness, 824 00:53:10,120 --> 00:53:12,120 Speaker 1: we have the right folks in the right place at 825 00:53:12,120 --> 00:53:17,000 Speaker 1: the wrong time, But thank goodness we do have them. 826 00:53:17,040 --> 00:53:19,440 Speaker 1: Now that's all for today. Next time, I hope to 827 00:53:19,480 --> 00:53:22,680 Speaker 1: have a super duper happy, silly episode of tech Stuff. 828 00:53:22,800 --> 00:53:24,920 Speaker 1: I hadn't planned on going quite so dark, quite so 829 00:53:25,000 --> 00:53:28,319 Speaker 1: quickly after that last dark episode we did, but this 830 00:53:28,360 --> 00:53:31,880 Speaker 1: topic was fascinating to me and I thought relevant considering 831 00:53:32,480 --> 00:53:34,440 Speaker 1: the state of the world today, so I thought it 832 00:53:34,520 --> 00:53:37,000 Speaker 1: might be interesting for you guys too. Now, if you 833 00:53:37,040 --> 00:53:39,680 Speaker 1: have suggestions for future episodes of tech Stuff, you can 834 00:53:39,719 --> 00:53:42,040 Speaker 1: write me. The email address for the show is tech 835 00:53:42,120 --> 00:53:45,239 Speaker 1: Stuff at how stuff works dot com, or you can 836 00:53:45,280 --> 00:53:47,720 Speaker 1: send me a note on Facebook or Twitter. The handle 837 00:53:47,920 --> 00:53:49,960 Speaker 1: for the show at both of those is text Stuff 838 00:53:50,400 --> 00:53:53,720 Speaker 1: h s W. And remember you can watch me record 839 00:53:53,760 --> 00:53:57,200 Speaker 1: these shows live on twitch dot tv slash tech Stuff 840 00:53:57,440 --> 00:54:00,640 Speaker 1: on Wednesdays and Friday's. This is the which page to 841 00:54:00,640 --> 00:54:03,040 Speaker 1: see the schedule, and I'll talk to you guys again 842 00:54:03,719 --> 00:54:11,800 Speaker 1: really soon. For more on this and thousands of other topics, 843 00:54:12,080 --> 00:54:22,919 Speaker 1: is it how stuff works dot com