Re: Ransome inspired


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Posted by Tom Napier on September 18, 2011 at 11:40:43 user Didymus.

In Reply to: Re: Ransome inspired posted by Peter Ceresole on September 18, 2011 at 09:19:57:

"I understand that that's trickier than commonly believed.

Peter, I am impressed that you have met Ted Taylor. He, of course, wrote The Curve of Binding Energy to make the case that home-made atom bombs are a real danger. They are, one can knock down a city block and create a panic with an amateur nuclear explosion but only if one can get hold of quantities of tightly-guarded materials. To create a full-scale Hiroshima-style explosion requires a big and heavy device that would be hard to move clandestinely.
Taylor designed small, low-yield devices but didn't stress that he had the advantage of making 20 years of test explosions. Terrorists don't have that option. Even North Korea didn't get it right the first time.

Picric acid is a very unstable high explosive once used in artillery shells. It is quite unrelated to nitrogen iodide.

Once more I detect a certain disconnect from the Arthur Ransome theme!



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