Neutron Bombs - Enhanced Radiation Weapons
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 เม.ย. 2023
- In this TH-cam video, we delve into the science behind the neutron bomb, a meticulously crafted nuclear weapon developed during the Cold War. Learn how this bomb's perfect balance between minimizing blast radius and maximizing neutron radiation makes it so deadly.
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The most interesting thing about the Tsar Bomba is that scientists intentionally reduced its yield before testing to about half its true capability fearing substantial collateral damage. Calculations closer to testing caused them to realize it was going to be far more powerful than initially estimated. They were right.
I heard something along the lines that they lowered the yield because they were afraid it would set the atmosphere on fire.
so,in conclusion,they could build 100Mt bombs? if half of it would still scatter windows in London when dropped onto Berlin,than 6 100Mt Bombs spread over europa would be enough to turn the whole EU into a wildly overbacked Cake of scattered glas and rubble. imagine they had build a hundret...
They replaced the third fission stage with a lead dummy. As designed it was a fission -> fusion-> fission device with a neutron reflector that channeled the neutron output from the second stage into plain uranium metal which would fission from the external neutron source (not weapons grade enriched uranium it was just plain uranium metal). The third stage was basically equal to the first and second stages combined because the external neutrons would fission the uranium much more completely than a criticality based atomic bomb does.
@@atomicskull6405 Correct: and 50Mt of fast fission U238 would be an unbelievable amount of fallout.
They wanted the plane that dropped it to get away in time. Probably wouldn't have with a 100 Mt explosion.
You should do a video on the counterpart to these, high fuel efficiency hydrogen bombs with even more unimaginable blast radiuses but very little radiation.
This was exactly where my brain went when minimizing the explosion and maximizing radiation was described as "best of both worlds" - Imo that's the WORST of both worlds. Sad this is the direction we as a species went first.
If you can make a H-bomb level of explosion with next to no radiation, you may even be able to argue that it's a conventional weapon, morally speaking. It would harm FAR LESS innocent civilians with FAR LESS long-term environmental destruction. 🤷🏻♂️
Really big H bombs pretty much are like that - if you're close enough to be hurt by the radiation, you're already dead from the heat or blast.
I want a antimatter bomb.
What are you referring to?
@@Evan_Bell "pure fusion" devices, IE, they don't need the fission bomb (with its hard to make and easier to trace fissionable materials), through some process they just go to straight thermonuclear effects, thereby making any tom, dick, or islamic asshat with a high school lab able to make nukes that aren't detectable from the gamma and neutron emissions and could be made en mass.
they still would leave rads, but it'd be stuff that decayed extremely quickly, weeks if not days if memory serves, hence their alternate name "Clean Nukes"
I remember hearing about neutron bombs in the seventies but I thought they were only a proposal. I didn't know any had been built
Same, but in the 80s. And recently I start wondering what happened with this technology. Nice video 😊
There is also a claim that Israel has neutron bombs as part of its nuclear arsenal, or did at one point.
@@jayburn00 They almost certainly do, for use as an area-denial weapon against any potential invasion (as in 1948, 1967, or 1973). Basically, they could deploy neutron ERWs on their border without the risk of long-term fallout to completely annihilate an incoming force. The geography surrounding them makes it impossible to avoid such a blast.
Also, there were rumors a while back that they might have integrated neutron ERWs into their Jericho missiles, making a MIRV. This would be FAR scarier than a normal MIRV, as neutron ERWs are smaller, and thus a MIRV could contain far more devices (basically, they have a higher lethality:weight ratio).
@@theprogressivecynic2407 I'm somewhat familiar with Israel's missile and rocket tech, and it's impressive to be honest. They actually handicap their space program to avoid having their rockets go over other countries, being the only country that exclusively launches their satellites (at least when launched from Israel) into ?retrograde? orbit, the opposite direction of all other countries (everyone else launches in the other direction usually because the Earth's spin gives a boost of momentum, while launching in the other direction you are actually acting against it). Despite that handicap, their rockets still manage to get satellites into orbit, and the Jericho is apparently derived from those rockets. Anyway, I think a lot of the info about what weapons they actually had or have came from Mordechai Vannuu, a former employee of the Dimona facility. Interesting side note, depleted uranium armor is actually radiation activated when hit with neutrons. At one point it was believed du armor would protect against radiation in a similar manner to lead (and was considered as an element in NBC protection in armored vehicles), but that proved partially incorrect, with du emitting a burst of possibly lethal gamma rays when hit with a burst of neutrons. Depleted uranium does protect against other radiation, including ironically gamma, but is a hazard when it comes to neutron radiation.
I remember they were so worried about being overrun by massive Soviet tank columns that it started all these crazy programs. First they toyed with the idea of "backpack" nukes, burying them and employing them as "nuclear landmines". The West Germans immediately rejected that plan, then the follow up plan the neutron bomb, we will "microwave" or "cook" them in their tanks, predictably this too went over like a lead balloon. Finely they came up with a reasonable and acceptable idea, close air support and chopper gunships, which gave us the A-10 and the Apache.
Not a bomb. It's a "special military device."
We call them strategic deterrents 😂
Lmao.
Lol Russia ain't ever living that down 🤣🤦♂️
This is one of the best comments ever
Mass neutralization
I swear Simon has to be the hardest working person in internet history. My bedridden mother also loves watching your videos it keeps her mind off everything else so thank you Mr Simon for all your hard work it's really appreciated.
❤ for your mom. Moms are great.
Well, as I decided in the 80s during the cold War, in case of nuclear armageddon, I'd rather be at ground zero than live in the aftermath. At 54 years old now and feeling like we're back in another cold war, my feelings haven't changed on where I'd prefer to be. I'm wondering when the old public service announcements will start up again, y'know, how you should paint windows white to reflect the flash, take doors off hinges to protect yourself from falling debris, build a makeshift bunker under the stairs, find a bucket to poop in for a couple weeks... all in the 4 minute warning time. I was an anxious child... I wonder what could have contributed to that...😂
Welcome to the club. I was studying in West Berlin in the 1980ies, so...
And I was smack dab in the middle of the Cold War as part of my job.
The UK has created an "Emergency Alert" text system that sends unskippable alerts to every single phone in the country, that they'll test this month. Officially they claim it's for "extreme weather events", even though the UK doesn't have "extreme weather" - one hurricane a century, at most. Anyone with common sense can infer it's nothing to do with weather, it's a modern day 4 minute warning siren. We live in very precarious times that I'd foolishly hoped had passed 30 years ago.
For God's sake, don't watch "Threads"
I am right there with you. I remember having conversations with my parents when I got older about how we were going to be driving to ground zero, not away from it. Surviving the initial blast only to die a slow death from acute radiation sickness and/or cancer doesn’t sound all that appealing to me. I’d rather be vaporized than go through that, as terrible as it sounds.
Good video, appreciate you pointed out it's flaws without jumping into the fearmongering common around the neutron bomb. As a guy with a weird fascination for nuclear weapons and strategy, the whole "kills the population while leaving the city standing" myth is really annoying to me.
me too
How about giving it a nougat-y shell of Cobalt? ☢️💥☣️🫠
@@dubuyajay9964 atta boy
Side Bar: jack welch of GE fame was called "neutron jack" for his propensity to fire massive numbers of employees, leaving the buildings empty.
"Y'know, the kind of radiation that turned Bruce Banner into the Hulk".
The way this is referred to as a historical event cracked me up. Probably not the best way to describe the dangers of gamma radiation though.
The glaring problem with neutron bombs is they irradiate the blast zone with neutrons, and that creates extreme radioactivity. So collateral damage is less, but the area where the blast occurred is still highly radioactive.
Neutrons don't create radioactivity
Yeah but, I like the idea of those responsible dying a horrific, painful death in their bunkers.
@@aegaeon117 I also remember being 16 years old.
It's not a 'problem'. Neutron bombs' entire purpose is to irradiate the area where it lands. It's in the name.
Not for a long time. Radiation disappears rapidly.
I heard somewhere that the Tsar Bomba flight crew had an estimated 50/50 chance to survive 😳
Yes you heard that right indeed
There's a 50/50 chance that you heard that from Simon's video on that nuke.
Yes, due to the fact that they reduced the yield from 100MT to 50 MT.
Just being a Russian make is only 50% survivable... 😬
the northern hemisphere has a 0% chance to survive now that fertility rates are down 2/3 because of those tests
The US neutron bomb was developed FOR the Safeguard Anti-Ballistic Missile system's low altitude intercept Sprint missile to reduce damage at ground level. All other potential uses came after that.
Humans: "We've created the ultimate killing machine!"
Humans the next day: "How do we vastly improve on this already outdated mass murder device?"
It's scary to think that you could be near a fairly large explosion, but be seemingly unscathed, only to die later from the radiation that pulsed through your body completely unknown to you.
I found a story about Hisashi Ouchi, a nuclear power plant technician who was exposed to the highest level of radiation of any human in history and suffered history’s worst radiation burns. He lost most of his skin and began crying blood before his agony finally ended. He was kept alive for 83 excruciating days against his will by doctors at the University of Tokyo Hospital
That fairly large explosion is still a fission nuclear bomb. They are just weak in power compared to hydrogen bombs.
So yes, mushroom cloud and all
You would die very quickly as your tissues dissolve into mush. (Chernobyl on steroids).
@@durden91tyler It wasn't against his will. It was by his own wishes to try to survive and the doctors and family dedicated everything to keeping him alive. Hisashi also got along very well with the medical staff, and they constantly kept him and his family updated on his conditions. Heck, by the 81 day, the doctors finally came to the realization that his heart was only beating because of the medicine they were putting through his body, so they consoled the family as too the fact that Hisashi wouldn't be resuscitated the next time his heart stopped for his own good. Wendigoon goes into much more detail as too the whole process, and doesn't contain the stupid narratives that articles spin on what happened with Hisashi.
That's entirely why I find radiation so scary yet so fascinating
Plot MacGuffin for “Repo Man”.
Otto : Lobotomy? Isn't that for loonies?
Parnell : Not at all. Friend of mine had one. Designer of the neutron bomb. You ever hear of the neutron bomb? Destroys people - leaves buildings standing. Fits in a suitcase. It's so small, no one knows it's there until - BLAMMO. Eyes melt, skin explodes, everybody dead. So immoral, working on the thing can drive you mad. That's what happened to this friend of mine. So he had a lobotomy. Now he's well again.
One of my favorite movies!
That movie is an underrated 80s gem!
Simon looking like a bond villain whilst talking about neutron bombs. Scary!
You know it's going to be good when Simon opens a video with "it's the 1960s.."
Yup, 50’s, 60 or 70s.
Thank you, Simon and team!
In the words of Jello Biafra: Efficiency and progress is ours once more.
8:20 Nuclear bombs never did rip that hole in the ozone.
I guess the AC in my Chrysler and my sisters overuse of Aquanet got to it first.
The chemicals (CFC refrigerants) used in your Chrysler are no longer used and the ozone holes are shrinking. So it is possible to avert environmental disaster but this will impact on the profits of the Corporations who also own the Mass Media. Hence the derision aimed at the environmentalists.
He never said they did, he said the government feared it could.
Atmospheric nuclear testing depleted the ozone in the atmosphere by less than 0.14%.
Nah, turns out the "hole" is a natural phenomenon, similar to the "eye" in a storm......
When General Electric's Jack Welch began laying off employees but keeping the factories he given the nickname "Neutron Jack".
As it turns out, the neutron bomb was inferior to the x-ray bomb for missile defense purposes. The destructive radius of an x-ray producing bomb was significantly larger than the neutron bomb's inactivation radius (it messed up the isotopes of the incoming warhead rather than destroying it outright). An interesting design quirk is in order it to let out the x-rays they had to make the tamper out of an x-ray transparent material*, so rather than uranium it was made of gold. Yes, a bomb with a solid gold casing. I wonder how many kilograms of Au were used in each warhead?
*ETA: I have been corrected on this; it isnt that the gold is transparent to the x-rays made by the bomb but rather that the gold itself produces x-rays after being energized by the bomb inside. Check replies for the explanation from this kind person.
I had never heard of this device before, so thanks for your comment!
Indeed, thanks for illuminating us. ive not heard of this weapon. I call it ... the "gold bomb" 😂 ok ok it was developed and was quite effective for missile defense. Why have we not heard of it? And what would this bomb do to live tissue? 🤔
@@aurorajones8481 I see what you did there. XD
So that's how they embezzled all the gold out of Ft. Knox. 😉👍
What the heck is a xray bomb can't Find anything on it on Google
If I remember correctly the US did detonate a bomb to test the thesis that it would harm the atmosphere and also the ozone layer I think they did it somewhere over Antarctica. They also tried to build a propulsion engine for rockets that would be smaller contained blasts of fission, yeah that part where they tried it inside some mountain in Nevada is never going to be safe to enter.
I’ve been waiting for this video! awesome you finally made it
The main "advantage" of the neutron bomb from the NATO side is it would be lethal to Warsaw Pact frontline forces in their tanks and APCs. NATO forces could be protected by being under as little as six feet of earthen defenses per reports I read at the time and it would not destroy major German cities west of the front-lines.
It was one of many plans to deal with the "Red Storm" theory of WWIII in which the Soviets sent mass waves of armor and infantry across Europe.
In hindsight it can seem silly, but was considered a legitimate threat at the time.
yep and they had them to... indeed the russians they made a great many discoveries
Russian tanks had a anti radiation layer inside their tanks
Yes the city would be there
The population dead
After 2 weeks can safely enter without NBC suits
They got everything wrong. I read a transcript from a Soviet training program for officers. Their plan was to simply wipe out NATO cities and facilities in one strike. They had set aside around 40 nukes for Hamburg alone.
0:50 - Chapter 1 - A new nuke
6:15 - Chapter 2 - A versatile weapon
10:55 - Chapter 3 - No place for the neutron
On the one hand, it's cool that scientists know how to do that. And on the other hand, it's pretty scary that scientists know how to do that.
When I worked in the oilfield i had to take a radiation course because some of the trucks had a radioactive device called a denseometer which used cesium 137 if i remember correctly. It was used to tell the density of the slurry in kgs/m2. I remeber the 3 ways to limit exposure to radiation, time, distance and shielding. There might be 4 aspects to it but I don't remember. Pretty sure it's 3.
ha they where probabally trying to distract you from the oils carcinogenic toxity just like they had WMD courses for soldiers.... many people who put out them iraq oilfields (first gulf war) were fucked
i mean by distracting you from the real danger we have less liability right
Nice research work Simon! I thought I knew a lot about cold war weapons systems, but I didn't know the neutron bomb had the potential to disarm incoming nuclear warheads on ICBM or strategic bombers.
The Canadians said "No" when the U.S. tried to place neutron bombs in the Far North, eh?
In the first place they should have forbidden the creation of this kind of weapon because it will destroy our planet earth 🌏
❤❤❤✌✌✌🙏🙏🙏
I've been waiting for this one Simon. You're late, but thanks anyway!
Love this channel
Thank you for the knowledge. I always learn something new when i watch any of your content. You are amazing at breaking down complex information to s layman understanding. While i think my knowledge of the atom and radiation is great, but i always learn something new and exciting and that makes me happy!!! My 16 year old son loves all of your content as well, thanks for sharing the incredibly cool knowledge about the world around us!!
The really amazing thing is that the whole proces only takes milliseconds
If that.
@@DrDeuteron 😁
Less than a microsecond, generally.
@@Evan_Bell 😁
Take a look at Hisashi Ouchi's story to what happens with neutron radiation damage to a human.
Spoiler: The human body essentially begins to decompose while a person is still alive. It is said Hisashi produced an entire liter of diareah per day which was primarily composed of his own decaying intestines.
Quite fascinating! Thanks!
Cobalt, sodium and gold can also be used as casings for neutron activation. Na-24 only has a half life of 15h, so the radioactivity drops to negligible levels in a few days and won't produce long term contamination.
Water , Beryllium paraffin block neutrons .
Xenon acts as a poison in fission .
Shields were developed to protect against such.
No more wars military industrial complex drooling over a new one.
I blame Neutron Bombs for me suffering from fantasies of driving a scavenged Ferrari Enzo around an abandoned LA
Thank you for this excellent video.
Human beings are messed up... It's a wonder we've survived thus far
I love the content that you make for us. Also what is the music/track for your transitions called? Do you have a list somewhere? (especially interested in the one at 0:47)
The gameplay mechanics of Missile Command now make a whole lot more sense, and I lived during that time!
Sometimes I wish conflicts were fought with swords still.
Now there’s an ounce of wisdom
I think the same thing from time to time
You should do one on salted nuclear weapons, Britain actually tested one in Maralinga by surrounding a warhead with small cobalt pellets and it worked but those organising the test didn't tell the health physics who then monitored the testing area for residual radiation as they wanted clean data as they knew Health Physics surveyors wouldn't want to go anywhere near the place if they knew cobalt 60 pellets were scattered around ground zero.
He did. th-cam.com/video/ANIc4NKj6WQ/w-d-xo.html
No, that was not a test of a slated weapon. Cobalt pellets were simply used as radiochemical tracers as a method of yield estimation.
Thats a cover story it was a salted weapon designed to test the area denial concept , you do yield estimates using streak camera film and measure the the width of the initial fireball and the measurement of the fallout isotopes by prompt filter sampling by using rockets and sniffer aircraft, Co60 was only ever used in one bomb if it had been the standard method for yield calculations as you say it was it would have been repeatedly used but it wasn't and no other country employed Co60 either, and the HP team would have also known to look for it but they were kept in the dark, putting Co60 pellets in the casing would only indicate neutron flux at best also the scientist who was the chairman of the AWTSC Ernest Titterton withheld the Co60 information he only came out with the yield calculation story after word got out and it only came to light later when Health Physics accidentally stumbled across Co60 pellets while using an Alpha probe in the forward area as quoted in the book Beyond Belief by a HP chap called Doug Rickard, that claim is correct its possible to detect gamma and X Rays with an Alpha probe if the radiation levels are high enough seen it first hand, the radiation swamps the PM tube and gives you a false reading, Titterton initially claimed it was used to give the Health Physics teams a challenge later he said it was for bomb yield (see page chapter 7 Deception and ignorance page 102-103 in the Wakefield Press book Beyond Belief by Roger Cross and Avon Huddson). .That said sending people into ground zero without telling those working there shows you how little regard those higher up had for the health Physics surveyors and other working at GZ, I've worked with Co60 and it's seriously nasty stuff kicks off a very energetic Gamma ray just a small fleck of the is highly dangerous if unshielded.
Penny and those running the tests kept a lot of information from the Australians the Co60 seeded weapon was one such test as were the minor trials, the UK only gained access to Maralinga on the promise it would be left in the state it was found seeding Co60 all over the desert if admitted would have caused uproar like the minor trials they thought they could get away with burning lumps of Plutonium 239 in the open air, that said the whole idea of burning Pu239 outside of any kind containment is horrific, I've also worked with both Pu239 and Pu238 as a glove box operator and just 3 Bq of Pu239 is enough to give you your ANI (Annual Limit of Intake) God only knows how many poor buggers were killed due to the minor trials, back in the mid 90's when I was in HP I put my name forward for the Brumbi 2 cleanup but Harwell's HP department didn't win the main contract so I never went looking back at it I'm glad I didn't, I'd also strongly advise anyone thinking of touring the Maralinga test site to keep well away from the minor trial sites as there's a lot of Pu239 Oxide still blowing around in the desert and a 3'rd cleanup is being mentioned I know one thing I wont be the one going.
@@mellbenham6809 very fascinating. Thank you for the insight
No problem.
In re the 50 megaton Tsar Bomba: at the time of the eruption of Mount Saint Helens, a news report described the explosion as being X-number of times the power of the Hiroshima nuclear bomb. Knowing the latter to have been 20 kilotons, I calculated the Mt St Helens eruption to have been... 50 megatons!
it's nice and quick and clean and gets things done
I think I was stationed in Germany when I first heard about neutron bombs. The plan was to use them against formations of Russian tanks. The armor would provide no protection at all from what I heard, but civilians in the area could survive by going into their basements and huddling against the wall that was facing the blast. The theory was that several feet, or yards of earth, depending on the angle, would offer them protection, but several inches of armor on a tank would do nothing.
Beryllium is a neutron multiplier. Wrap it in beryllium and it would create a massive shower of neutrons.
Me,
"Should I really be watching a video about an increasing (but very small) chance that I may die this way ..."
Also me,
"Yes please, fascinating 🤗"
I don't know how many times I have to block any of this man's related channels
I love the way this British is so casual&actually trying for a comedians touch on massive death from above!wonder what this guy's face would look like if it happens near him!?I bet the goofy smile would go away!
Humans, the pride of the universe
Thanks for the great news
Efficiency and progress is ours once more
Now that we have the neutron bomb
It's nice and quick and clean and gets things done
I know that image clip -11:40 - it was used by an US paint manufacturer in a TV commercial in the 1950's - if you use it's white paint, your house would not go up in a puff of smoke during a nuclear strike 'nearby', as in in the next state.
@@christopherconard2831 Those films were produced to provide the public with a false sense of security. Americans needed to feel as though there was something they could do.
Your description of the physics is correct, but neutron warheads were originally used as the warhead for Anti-Ballistic Missiles (ABMs). However, the ABM Treaty required the United States and the Soviet Union to dismantle their ABM programs . Then under Presidents Carter and Reagan, it was decided to redeploy those same neutron warheads to be anti-personnel nuclear weapons. However, everything else you stated is correct.
The other problem with the Tsar Bomba is deploying it. It's too heavy to put on a missile so couldn't be a stealth weapon.
I still find soo ironic how the soviet union's more powerful weapon was called "Tzar". Poor Romanov xD
Nicknamed by the West
really creepy weapon if you think about it. imagine an undamaged ghost town. it's like a horror concept
There are a few known cases of a town missing all the people but items still there. It is a scary thought
@@Zepplin76 Like Pripyat In Chernobyl. Abandoned like a moment in time.
It would be full of diarrhea, puke, hair, and bloated reddened hairless bodies.
So, less destruction, but assured slow and painful death, nice.
Glad I found you, new sub
"Efficiency and progress is ours once more
Now that we have the neutron bomb
It's nice and quick and clean and gets things done!
EMP - The NO fuss NO mess weapon. Detonate, wait 1 year for the locals to starve and kill each other, move in and take over with NO radioactive fallout or nuclear winter. EMP - the wonder weapon that no victim knows who even sent it.
Besides the nuclear blast detonated to create it.🤦🏿♂️
The Tsar Bomba was designed to be at least 100 megatons but they got cold feet and replaced the uranium metal third stage with a lead dummy. As designed it was supposed to be a fission -> fusion -> fission bomb with the second fusion stage generating neutrons to cause fast fission in a third uranium metal stage (not even enriched uranium just plain old uranium metal would fission anyway due to the massive amount of neutrons from the second stage). The third stage was estimated to be at least equal to the output from the first and second stages due to much more complete fission of the uranium thanks to the outside neutron source from the second stage.
It is also believed that it consisted of many smaller parallel stages (basically smaller sub bombs in parallel) and could be scaled up to much larger yields than 100 megatons..
These were used at the Baghdad Airport.
Just remember to save those bottle caps. And to upgrade lock picking skills.
Whoa, cool!
Cobalt bombs is where I would put my money into. Thank you and thumbs up for the video Simon, have a nice day.
Those are just bat shit crazy.
nah there are many worse things
Like the one from below the planet of the apes
No Mr. Bond! Neutron bombs can make gold disappear in milliseconds never to return! Put your money in gold! And wait till I hit Ft. Knox!
Not very effective weapons. The radiative capture cross section of Co-59 is very low. At a neutron energy of 14.07 Mev, it's
540 times smaller than the fission cross section of U-238.
I recall, in the seventies, Olivia Newton-John being given a nickname.
Olivia Neutron-Bomb, in case you were wondering. 😐
Yes indeed. I was (and still am) a huge fan and I used to have to put up with my brother and all sorts of schoolmates calling her that to try to taunt me. That was where I learned that not reacting to taunts diffuses them of their power. Pun absolutely intended.
Neutron bombs are clearly the greatest things invented since wonder bread! How the heck could we live without one?!
BOMBA!
Efficiency and progress is ours once more.
There is something fascinating about learning things about man made devices that could end all of man
Oppenheimer was a great movie and as someone invested in the topic it was well worth the wait
Ooh! Ooh! Do Project Pluto and the SLAM missile next!
What I find funny about this video is that Simon's got the Zakhaev look 😂
Good to hear as information but in real use any nukes in an environment would be worse for the humanity
Damn “free” sovereign citizen neutrons. I bet they say they’re not exploding but traveling.
Efficiency and progress is ours once a’more, now that we have the neutron bomb!
I don't know why but I like how the opening background soundtrack for the intro is from the game Plague Inc
Simon...the Anthony Bourdain of youtube content.
I have it on very good authority that the bomb does not go "off". It goes ON! My Russian friend Houston Texas says "Is same for alarm - it goes ON!"
I distinctly remember when the cancellation of the neutron bomb funding in Washington hit the national news and the concept of what it was and what it did became truly public knowledge. Prior to that I would bet maybe 1 in 100,000 might have even heard of such a thing. Anyway, I along with many came to the realization that within the military there were some truly deviant minds at work, and the idea of the United States even CONSIDERING such a heinous weapon was extremely problematic. I really believe this was a seminal moment in US history.
Ain't no party, like a "Roman salting the earth" party.
We needn't have worried, as Fast X shows, a 20 kiloton neutron device detonating in the middle of Rome is pretty harmless as long as you knock it into a river first.
You better watch Repo Man and reassess your remarks
A tad convinient considering recent events to make a video like this.
Do a video on the mythical “Aurora” spy plane.
When are we gonna get the megaprojects podcast?!
Horrific weapons, the fact that one man could practically wipe out a large chunk of life on this planet makes me physically sick
just think, bombs are trivial now, digital weapons can make nuclear power plants melt down without all the violence
@@acedianihil8208 Melting down nuclear power plants?
That's not going to replace nuclear weapons is it 🤣
Monkey sees bright flash.
Neutron activation.
*[Geiger counter noises]*
Sobering watching
I like how the wondrous music plays why talking about using nukes to nuke other nukes.
“ neutron bomb, kill the baby leave the crib!” who can name the band?
Ah yes, the good stuff.
The torpedoes are amazing. Alegedly.
Jeebus. Just when i think ive subscribed to all of simons channels. Heres another
Fun fact: the best shielding against neutrons is actually water.
There has been a lot of focus of the effects of neutron bombs if they are used on people.
A less known fact is that, if NOT used on people, neutron bombs, when used defensively, and detonated within several KM of enemy bombs, can cause enemy cores to undergo premature fission, aka "fizzle" before they reach their target.
As a result, a neutron bomb makes an orders-of-magnitude better ICMB interceptor, as compared to its kinetic counterpart. However, this inconvenient fact violates the concept of MAD because destruction will no longer be assured for the side with considerable interception capability. Therefore, ban the neutron bomb, and stay MAD.
An example of this was Nike-X, where detonation would occur within the enemy missile's mid-course, at which altitude, the attenuation from atmosphere, together with any shelter, would protect people below from radiation. This program was cancelled.
Crazy that stuff like this can just hit us from space.
Don't forget the Atomic Cruise Missile spewing out Radiation as it drops Nukes while flying over the enemy's Country zig zagging to cover it all. Then you got the Cobalt Treated Bomb.
Interestingly you mention boron as a neutron absorber for tanks. Boron Nitride is a hard ceramic and fibrous boron nitride in epoxy has been considered for tank armor....
From what I've read about him, Stalin would have loved this weapon: It would kill everyone in the target area but only damage, not destroy the stuff he wanted to capture (read: steal). Thank heaven it wasn't developed when he was still alive.
For fusion devices the function is more like the fusion fuel reacts releasing radiation into the U238 jacket causing that to fissile