Slashdot Mirror
The Controversy of a Potential Hafnium Bomb
deglr6328 writes "Physics Today has a report detailing the surprisingly heated controversy surrounding the usually sober science of nuclear isomers (the Washington Post has run a less scientifically rigorous version). Since the 70's it has been known that the specific "m2" isomer of Hafnium-178 has an extraordinarily long half life of 31 years (nuclear isomers usually have half-lives on orders of pico or nanoseconds) and on decaying, emits high energy gamma rays at ~2.5 Mev. The prospect of energy storage and rapid release in Hf-178 for the puropse of creating large energy stores, bombs and even exotic gamma ray lasers did not escape the interest of Reagan era Star Wars researchers and was seriously studied for a time during SDI's heyday, but was eventually abandoned after being considered unfeasible. Then, in 1999, Carl Collins at the Univ. of Texas Center for Quantum Electronics reported inducing energy release from Hf-178 by bombarding a sample with X-rays (from a dental machine no less). Immediately, comments about the article were submitted, pointing out inconsistencies with basic nuclear theory and the controversy has only grown since then, with claims and counter-claims of flawed experimental design, incompetence and irrational theories in feuds reminiscent of the cold fusion debacle of the late 80's. It's seeming more unlikely as the arguments drag on, but if a Hafnium bomb could be built, it is thought that a golf ball sized chunk could produce the energy equivalent of 10 tons of conventional explosives."
s/puropse/purpose/. You guys need a spellchecker for story submissions. :)
quidquid latine dictum sit altum videtur.
Man I can't believe they keep delaying this crap? first talked about 5 years ago then told on sep 31st,,then some stuppid hacker/bad guy, steals it and now 31 years for hafnium to come out...this just plain sucks!!!!!
...that most people dislike scientists.
What?? Uneducated terrorists don't build nuclear bombs, Period. If they get them, they buy them. And I doubt they get their ideas from Google.
"THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS ONLY ME." -Death
Clue Time-- "They" hate everybody. "They" hate Britain, and have proclaimed their determination to turn it into an Islamic state, not to mention the 90s embassy siege they suffered a while back. "They" hate Spain, their hate spanning years before the latest bombing. "They" hate Isreal, stating their goal to wipe this tiny little country from the face of the Earth after severval comprimises on Isreals part. "They" hate Russia, as evidenced by the theater hostage taking of recent memory.
Get some persective, Top Gun. The list of people "they" hate is a very, very, very long one and America was by no means the first on it. Maybe you should ask yourself why "they" are reactionary savages to everybody else. I know, it can't be because "they" are just as fucked up as you claim everybody else is, right? Sure, all the countries you listed indiscriminatly target the civilian populace in order to "get their point across", right? RIGHT????
I'm sorry, but fuck you and the horse you rode in on, you cluless bastard. If it takes a gun to the head or a golf ball sized chunk hafnium to keep these freaks in line, so be it.
You need a FREE iPod Nano