h a l f b a k e r yBirth of a Notion.
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//Quick ... very quick.// But perhaps not quick
enough. Instead, what is needed is popcorn with a
tiny detonator set in a half-millimetre hole bored
into the kernel. All of the several hundred
detonators are wired to a common source for
_truly_ instantaneous popcorn. |
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For an additional cost, the detonators can be
individually connected to a 500-terminal control
box, allowing a detonation rate that matches the
consumption rate. |
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I'm afraid there's only one solution that would match 8th of 7's consumption rate. |
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But where does one find a sufficient quantity of U235 these days, now that North Korea's gone and tested much of theirs? |
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// I'm afraid there's only one solution that would match 8th of 7's consumption rate. // |
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You are correct. Be afraid... be VERY afraid... |
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No-one's built uranium devices for about sixty years. They're baby-steps things. All realistic gadgets are Pu-implosion, axially symmetric using pusher plates, and then fusion-boosted. |
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You're still using those?? |
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No, of course not. We're just describing the primitive technology that fifth-rate dictatorships tend to knock together. |
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well... you'd certainly be getting your daily iron and carbon requirement all at one shot. |
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How'bout an explosion-pumped microwave chamber. |
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//All
realistic gadgets are Pu-implosion, axially symmetric using
pusher plates, and then
fusion-boosted.// |
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I believe that from this statement (and a few assumptions)
we can calculate the Borg's
appetite for destruction - to a first approximation. |
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Apparently popcorn kernels pop at somewhere between
180 and 232 degrees C. Let's call
it 220 degrees C. Let us suppose that the initial popcorn
temperature is 20 degrees.
So I found a table on teh internet which suggests that
popcorn's specific heat is around 2
kJ/kg.K (2.04 air-popped, 1.99 oil-popped). We need to
heat it up by the difference of
200 degrees, so that's 400kJ per kilo. |
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For the yield of the gadget from a fifth-rate dictatorship, I
propose the yield of Ivy Mike
(10.4 megatons TNT) as a reasonable approximation, where
a Mt is of course 4.184×10^15
J. This gives an amount of energy available of about
4.4×10^16 J |
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Then we can divide through to get around
1.1*10^12 kg, or 110 megatons
of popcorn, assuming 100% efficiency. In practice I suspect
that a yield of 1% of that (a million tons)
would be considered sufficient, and leave enough space
around the fire for the borglings to roast
marshmallows, and perhaps horse-chestnuts. |
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