Re: Nanotech Arms Race

Spike Jones (spike66@ibm.net)
Mon, 25 Jan 1999 21:40:45 -0800

> Michael S. Lorrey wrote:
> > Lessee, you can make a 10 kt weapon these days to fit in a suitcase...
>
> Billy Brown wrote
> Also, as I said before, a really small bomb won't produce an explosion at
> all. If you could build a microgram nuke (which you can't), it would
> simply...

billy's comment is right. nuclear reactors dont scale down, nor do nuclear bombs. a certain critical mass is required. thought experiment: imagine scaling
a fusion weapon all the way down to two atoms of plutonium 238. each one has a 50% chance of sitting there acting like any other nonradioactive atom in any given 88 year period, and putting the two next to each other doesnt change anything. if one decays, the other one will most probably not be impressed. nanotech will not have nuclear as an option for power. spike