[Corsair]

...on nuclear chemistry. It was by far the easiest unit of the entire year.

That scares me, that any two-bit half-wit can go find a high school chemistry textbook and find the most likely equation for a fusion reactor. My book more or less says, "The exact reaction is a closely guarded secret, but here's what we think the equation is for a thermonuclear device."

Did I mention that it took me all of five seconds on the internet to find vague instructions for how to build a nuke?

[karajorma]

Building a nuke is easy.

Obtaining large quantities of Uranium is difficult. Forming the fluoride and using the differing diffusion speeds to remove the U238 is harder. Doing all that without people wondering why you're buying large quanties of both uranium and fluorine and building a large plant to weaponise the uranium is well nigh impossible

[SadisticSid]

Not scary at all; nuclear secrets haven't been secrets at all for the past few decades. If it was as easy to do as the presence of all these sources imply we'd have nukes going off left right and centre.

[Martinus]

[color=66ff00]Indeed, all good in theory as they say. Heck people start asking questions if you buy high nitrate fertilizer here in Ireland but that's not a bad thing IMHO.
[/color]

[karajorma]

Originally posted by Maeglamor
[color=66ff00]Indeed, all good in theory as they say. Heck people start asking questions if you buy high nitrate fertilizer here in Ireland but that's not a bad thing IMHO.
[/color]

Exactly. A bunch of terrorists got caught in the UK recently cause they were buying osmium tetroxide. Since they didn't work in a chemisty lab they were hard pressed to give a legitimate explaination for why they needed it.

It would be the same if you tried to by fluorine.

[Knight Templar]

/KT is in the nuclear unit of chemistry now
/KT thinks it is relatively easy

[an0n]

Building a nuke is a piece of piss.

Getting the parts and not dosing yourself with lethal amounts of radiation during its construction are entirely different matters.

[Fineus]

Originally posted by an0n
Building a nuke is a piece of piss.

Getting the parts and not dosing yourself with lethal amounts of radiation during its construction are entirely different matters.

You know, I always thought that was how it worked

[an0n]

Did you quote the wrong post or are you just PMS'ing too bad to make sense?

[vyper]

Any1 watch that Panorama episode with the chlorine attack?

[Jetmech Jr.]

eh?

[Fineus]

Originally posted by an0n
Did you quote the wrong post or are you just PMS'ing too bad to make sense?

Whu? I was agreeing and saying I always thought that even if you got hold of the required materials you'd be risking exposure to that radiation.. and that it was funny that nobody else had pointed it out sooner... no PMSing as far as I can tell!

[Martinus]

[color=66ff00]Surely an anthrax attack would be far more manageable than trying to build a nuke.

I say we invent cold fusion and inadvertantly blow up europe. That way we won't have to put up with anyone else anymore.
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[an0n]

Originally posted by Kalfireth

Whu? I was agreeing and saying I always thought that even if you got hold of the required materials you'd be risking exposure to that radiation.. and that it was funny that nobody else had pointed it out sooner... no PMSing as far as I can tell!

.....Are you suuure?

And if we discovered some kind of cold-fusion reaction it could, in theory, become a self-propogating explosion and wipe out the enti...re..universe.

Hmmm.

[Martinus]

[color=66ff00]Bonus[/color]

[Corsair]

Originally posted by an0n
.....Are you suuure?

And if we discovered some kind of cold-fusion reaction it could, in theory, become a self-propogating explosion and wipe out the enti...re..universe.

Hmmm.

Dammit Thunder, now you've gone and given him some crazy half-cocked idea again.

[an0n]

If I could make something hold enough energy in a small enough space, it might fracture the tiny pockets of finitely-divisible space that contain all matter and energy, rupturing the over-packed one into the surrounding packets.

That might be enough to create a propogating spatial explosion. At the very least it'd make a cool little omni-gap in space that could **** with the laws on conservation of energy, which in turn could lead to some universe-destroying explosions.

[Flaser]

It takes at least 40 kg of WG (weapon grade = at least 95% U-235, and 5% U-238) to build a nuke. If you manage to get that it's quite easy to build a bomb. - The problem as it was mentioned before getting the stuff.

It only takes 10 kg of Plutonium - however the implosion is still a closely guarded technique, which the public has only the faintest idea of how it is achieved.

[redsniper]

if you wanna know about building a nuke, read The Sum of All Fears

[karajorma]

Originally posted by Flaser
It only takes 10 kg of Plutonium - however the implosion is still a closely guarded technique, which the public has only the faintest idea of how it is achieved.

IIRC the implosion is just there to increase the yield and make sure the bomb doesn't reach critical mass before you're ready. If you had enough uranium or plutonium and whoever set off the bomb didn't care about living through it you could do away with the implosion.