Re: Nanotech Arms Race

Michael S. Lorrey (retroman@together.net)
Tue, 26 Jan 1999 08:58:28 -0500

Spike Jones wrote:

> > 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

Well, I had expected that that might be the case, using conventional nuclear weapons tech. However, putting a small amount in a neutron confining chamber and using magnetrons or other compact accelerator devices to raise the radiation levels might be used to increase the fissile probabilities...