Why should the nuclear physicists have all the fun? Let the chemists play too.
I assume the huge density difference between plutonium allotropes contributes to making a density wave (explosion) an effective way to trigger criticality?
Lower initial density isn't really an advantage. If I recall correctly, alpha phase plutonium was used in early nuclear weapons cores because it was easier to shape. The brittle, harder, denser delta phase (with mechanical properties comparable to cast iron) was used in later weapons once the difficulties of machining it were overcome.
The decisions made during the Manhattan Project were not aimed at high efficiency nuclear weapons; the project needed to ensure that reliable weapons could be constructed quickly with the limited information available at the time. Even before fusion weapons were invented, atomic bombs became significantly more powerful, efficient, and lightweight due to realizing design optimizations that couldn't be tested before the war ended.
> Lower initial density isn't really an advantage.
Wouldn’t larger change in density for a given force be an advantage, though? It allows you to have a larger subcritical mass (at the lower density) that becomes critical as force is applied, without having to play geometric games; but maybe those games are trivial?
The chemistry and solid state physics of the actinides is pretty interesting because of all the electrons whizzing around: consider the infrared spectrum of thoria which makes it the choice for gas light mantles or the glow in the dark behavior of uranium glass which has nothing to do with radioactivity.
Not forgetting the Lanthanides, their cousins in the f-block, which have various interesting optical / catalytic / magnetic properties (e.g. Europium, Cerium, Neodymium).
What does the word 'macropscopic' mean in it's abstract?
The best bet is a typo of macroscopic - but hmm it's made it through that far and I do find a bunch of other uses of that word in physicsy stuff
(The nice word in there is 'ansatzes' which I didn't know, as something like a starting guess/assumption)
Guessing: macropscopic is a typo. Most dictionaries don't have many technical words and you get use to click "add to dictionary". After a few days it's not highlighted in any of the authors or reviewers text editor and nobody notice it. If you want to get fancy, call it "click fatigue".
Why should the nuclear physicists have all the fun? Let the chemists play too.
I assume the huge density difference between plutonium allotropes contributes to making a density wave (explosion) an effective way to trigger criticality?
Lower initial density isn't really an advantage. If I recall correctly, alpha phase plutonium was used in early nuclear weapons cores because it was easier to shape. The brittle, harder, denser delta phase (with mechanical properties comparable to cast iron) was used in later weapons once the difficulties of machining it were overcome.
The decisions made during the Manhattan Project were not aimed at high efficiency nuclear weapons; the project needed to ensure that reliable weapons could be constructed quickly with the limited information available at the time. Even before fusion weapons were invented, atomic bombs became significantly more powerful, efficient, and lightweight due to realizing design optimizations that couldn't be tested before the war ended.
> Lower initial density isn't really an advantage.
Wouldn’t larger change in density for a given force be an advantage, though? It allows you to have a larger subcritical mass (at the lower density) that becomes critical as force is applied, without having to play geometric games; but maybe those games are trivial?
AFAIU it is suspected that many(most?) bombs have hollow cores; if so, they're already "playing geometric games".
The chemistry and solid state physics of the actinides is pretty interesting because of all the electrons whizzing around: consider the infrared spectrum of thoria which makes it the choice for gas light mantles or the glow in the dark behavior of uranium glass which has nothing to do with radioactivity.
Not forgetting the Lanthanides, their cousins in the f-block, which have various interesting optical / catalytic / magnetic properties (e.g. Europium, Cerium, Neodymium).
What does the word 'macropscopic' mean in it's abstract? The best bet is a typo of macroscopic - but hmm it's made it through that far and I do find a bunch of other uses of that word in physicsy stuff
(The nice word in there is 'ansatzes' which I didn't know, as something like a starting guess/assumption)
Guessing: macropscopic is a typo. Most dictionaries don't have many technical words and you get use to click "add to dictionary". After a few days it's not highlighted in any of the authors or reviewers text editor and nobody notice it. If you want to get fancy, call it "click fatigue".