Thor: Anatomy of a Weapon System by Geoff Goodchild

Author:Geoff Goodchild [Goodchild, Geoff]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9781781555682
Publisher: Fonthill Media
Published: 2017-05-19T04:00:00+00:00

When the warhead detonates, the following chain of events is set in motion:

The primary device detonates, producing intense X-ray radiation.

The X-rays cause heating of the interior of the casing and the uranium tamper, the shield acting to prevent any premature detonation of the fuel inside.

The heat produced causes burning and expansion of the tamper, which, in turn, applies pressure inwards against the lithium-deuteride, resulting in approximately a thirty-fold compression of the fuel.

Shock waves caused by the compression initiate the fission process in the plutonium 239 spark plug, which produces radiation, heat, and neutrons.

The neutrons penetrate the lithium-deuteride and combine with the lithium to produce tritium.

The extremely high temperatures and pressures achieved cause deuterium-deuterium and tritium-deuterium fusion reactions to occur and this produces more heat, radiation, and neutrons.

Neutrons released by the fusion process causes fission in the pieces of uranium 238 remaining from the tamper and the shield, which produces more heat and radiation.

Detonation.

It is reported that this entire chain of events is completed within about 600-billionths of a second, the first 550 of those billionths for the fission device to do its work and the remaining 50 billionths of the second for the fusion processes to occur. The result is an explosion of near unimaginable proportions, the results of which are discussed below.

A fireball forms at the moment of detonation. The roughly spherical mass of hot, incandescent gases rises and changes its shape due to friction with the surrounding air. The size of the fireball, the speed at which it rises, and the height to which it ascends depend largely on the power of the weapon. The surface of the fireball cools by a process of energy radiation, and it forms a violent, swirling, annular vortex. The vortex sucks air into its centre, creating the after winds and cooling itself. The speed of the swirling slows down as it cools, and may stop completely later. The vaporised parts of the weapon and other materials condense out onto dust particles. The white-hot vortex core changes colour to yellow, then red, finally losing all visible incandescence. As further cooling takes place, the main bulk of the cloud grows as atmospheric moisture condenses, forming the characteristic mushroom cloud. As the cloud ascends, it cools, reducing its buoyancy and therefore its rate of ascent. For a weapon of the size carried by Thor, detonated at the surface, the bottom of the mushroom cloud would be expected to be at a height of around 36,000 feet or so, with its top around 65,000 feet.

The distribution of radiation in the mushroom cloud varies as a function of the yield of the weapon, type of weapon, fusion/fission ratio, burst altitude, terrain type, and weather. Generally, it can be said that lower-yield explosions have about 90 per cent of radioactivity in the mushroom head and 10 per cent in the stem. Megaton-range detonations tend to have most of the radioactivity in the lower third of the mushroom cloud.

The effects of the detonation can vary widely, depending upon the

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