US military pioneers death ray bomb

Guardian ^ | 08/14/03 | David Adam and Suzanne Goldenberg

[ElTianti]

>>Hey, gamma rays are also how the Fantastic Four got there
>>powers too! I got dibs on Human Torch!

Sir you are incorrect. The FF acquired their powers after exposure to Cosmic Rays.

[inquest]

Neutron bombs and this new device can be used in a highly discriminatory manner, such as at a column of approaching troops, or at a warship. Thus, it can still be a moral, yet still powerful, alternative to dropping the bomb.

And the Iraq "conflict" was very small potatoes compared to a war with, say, China.

[Right Wing Professor]

I'm not sure, but I think this is based on creating excited nuclear rotational states. For example, ¹¹¹Cd, which is normally unradioactive and has a nuclear spin quantum number of 1/2, can also be produced in the spin 9/2 state by decay from ¹¹¹In. The nucleus then decays by emission of four gammas. If you had a compact mass of it, you might get stimulated emission (almost like a gamma ray laser), and an intense burst of gammas.

The cadmium 111 excited state only lasts for a few hours, but there are many other nuclei that do this and are potential candidates; some emit far more than 4 gammas.

[Eala]

The device would not produce energy by triggering a nuclear fission or fusion reaction, like current nuclear weapons. Instead it would rely on the gamma rays produced when the high-energy nuclei of some radioactive elements decay.

Robert, please explain...?

[.cnI redruM]

Trigger a new arms race? THis will allow us to compete in an arms race already occurring. THe Russians and The PLA already make extensive use of methodologies to weaponize sound waves and visible light to kill or disale the enemy.

US pilots have been 'accidently' shot down by them.

[inquest]

So could this technology apply, as r9etb suggested at #16, to the disposal of waste from nuclear power plants?

[Bobby777]

"Mr. President, we must not allow a mine-shaft gap!!!"



Dr: Strangelove: "But the point of the Doomsday Weapon is lost, IF YOU KEEP IT A SECRET! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL THE WORLD???"

[bedolido]

I'm not sure, but I think this is based on creating excited nuclear rotational states. For example, 111Cd, which is normally...

snnnnxxxxxx!!!! oopsss sorry... old habit.

[Right Wing Professor]

So could this technology apply, as r9etb suggested at #16, to the disposal of waste from nuclear power plants?

Maybe gamma emitters. The problem with beta emitters is their decay energy is all over the place, so the sort of coherent stimulated emission phenomenon I speculated about would be hard to produce. And beta emitters are the big problem.

[Right Wing Professor]

Wow. Usually I get well into the second paragraph before that happens!

[spoiler2]

"this new device can be used in a highly discriminatory manner,"

Here's hoping that the normal 'bigger is better' adage doesn't prevail in this case.

[prairiebreeze]

Holy Death Rays, Batman!!

[Redcloak]

...you might get stimulated emission (almost like a gamma ray laser), and an intense burst of gammas.

Back during the Reagan years, I remember reading about an idea for a GRASER. That design used graphite rods surrounding a nuclear device. (It looked like a Koosh Ball with a bad attitude!) The nuke would act as the pump and the graphite would be the gain medium. Obviously, this was a single shot weapon!

Hmmm... Time for a little brain storming...

What if you used one of these gamma ray burst emitters in a shielded chamber with an aperture on one end, and what if there was a graphite gain rod in that aperture...

I WANT ONE!!!

[holden]

[I]t could force other countries to start nuclear programmes, or worse, encourage those who already possess nuclear weapons to use them.

One tin soldier rides away.

HF

P.S. 'programmes' I guess the spelling suggests something about the author, doesn't it?

[steve8714]

If it is tac only they are not innocent. Put one in a cave.

[mhking]

Gamma rays? Paging Dr. Bruce Banner....

Just damn.

If you want on the new list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[inquest]

The problem with beta emitters is their decay energy is all over the place, so the sort of coherent stimulated emission phenomenon I speculated about would be hard to produce.

But it should still be able to accelerate the decay somewhat, right?

Just to make sure I'm understanding you correctly, this is my hypothetical understanding of what you were saying to me, and correct me if I'm wrong: You were essentially saying that the gamma rays from certain types of nuclear decay trigger decay in surrounding nuclei (which I envision, hopefully correctly, as similar to the way neutrons from the fission of a uranium nucleus go on to break up other uranium nuclei).

If that's true, then beta particles should be able to do the same thing, even though they vary in energy level. At least the higher-energy particles should be able to trigger decay in surrounding nuclei, right?

[Thud]

ping

[AngryJawa]

"I really thought we had learned something with the Iraq conflict, such as how to wage a concentrated campaign on an avowed madman, with the LEAST amount of unintended deaths of civilians."

The very same weapons we used to wage the contentrated war in Iraq could have been used to level entire cities and kill hundreds of thousands of innocents. However, chose to have our B52's drop tons of HE only on troop concentrations. We leafleted the hell out of strategic areas to get people away from strategic targets before the JDAM's fell. Our soldiers displayed superhuman restraint before laying down any small arms fire.

A gamma burst weapon is no different except that it would be more efficient and could potentially keep our pilots out of harms way. The morality of this or any other weapon's use depends on the people pulling the trigger.

[King Prout]

this URL leads to a decent primer on the subject
http://www.princeton.edu/~ehs/radtrain/sealedsource/RadiationProperties.html