Monday, December 08, 2008

Nukes vs. Massive Nukes


I've been watching old 1950's SciFi of late and I've been reminded of a term that you don't really hear anymore- the "H-Bomb". This bomb was a massive "upgrade" from previous nuclear bombs, being vastly more destructive. Many military minds thought it was ridiculous from a tactical perspective. The problem with it is the explosion is so large you can't really use it on the front line of a conventional war, because you'd wipe out your own troops. This bomb is really meant for wiping out civilians far behind battle lines.

Poking around the web I found this image of the first nuclear explosion, code named "Trinity," a project managed by J. Robert Oppenheimer. I also found out that Oppenheimer was very much opposed to building the H-bomb, or super-bomb. Los Alamos has a bit about it here.

I think J. Robert had some serious misgivings about what he'd birthed, at least he seems a little reluctant in this video. We should all be thankful the H-bomb has never been deployed.