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Ядерные пули — Transcript

by Канал Правда Жизни · 1,938 words · 316 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00After a series of episodes about the
0:02atomic, hydrogen, neutron, cobalt, and
0:05even the gold bomb, requests to talk
0:07about nuclear bullets have reappeared
0:09in the comments after a long break. And
0:13after the episode about the Davy
0:15Crockett, the lowest-yield munition in
0:17which a self-sustaining nuclear chain
0:20reaction is maintained, was released,
0:22the number of such requests reached
0:24such a threshold that delaying this
0:26episode any further became impossible.
0:30And so, today our conversation will be
0:32about those very atomic bullets. I am
0:35Sergey Shumakov, and you are watching
0:38the Truth of Life channel. From the
0:50nuclear episodes listed to the left,
0:52those of you who didn't know before
0:54have learned that a self-sustaining
0:56nuclear chain reaction is impossible
0:58without a critical mass of fissile
1:00material. For enriched uranium, in the
1:05case of its being in the most favorable
1:08spherical shape for a self-sustaining
1:11chain reaction, the critical mass is
1:1446,700 g, for plutonium 10,015 g, for
1:17curium 911 g, and for californium 5,460
1:20g. You can, of course, by lining such a
1:26sphere with neutron-reflecting material
1:28and simultaneously compressing it along
1:30with the neutron-reflecting shell using
1:32an explosion of conventional chemical
1:35explosives, trigger a self-sustaining
1:37nuclear reaction even with a smaller
1:39mass of uranium, plutonium, curium, or
1:41californium. For example, in the "Fat
1:44Man" bomb, as you remember, the amount
1:46of plutonium, surrounded by a shell of
1:49non-enriched uranium, was only 6,190 g.
1:51190 g. The amount of californium needed
1:55to start a self-sustaining nuclear
1:58reaction could be reduced collectively,
2:01using these two methods, to 1,940 g.
2:05But even these 1,940 g, if humanity
2:08even had them, would represent a sphere
2:11with a diameter of 62.6 mm. And this
2:17means that the minimum size of a
2:19californium munition would be
2:20comparable not to the size of a bullet,
2:22but to the size of a three-inch shell.
2:26But humanity has never had and will
2:28never have these 1,940 g. And the
2:32amount of simultaneously existing
2:35californium in the world has never
2:37exceeded 2.1 g. The peak of annual
2:42production, reached in 1973, was only
2:45875 mg. That is, even to produce such
2:50an amount of californium at these
2:52maximum rates, it would take people
2:552,217 years. And if production were
2:58carried out at ordinary average annual
3:00rates, then 3,692 years. But what, then
3:05, might you ask, could the filling of a
3:07nuclear bullet consist of? It consists
3:10of exactly the same things that classic
3:12nuclear charges are made of, that is,
3:13plutonium and beryllium. True, the
3:17configuration and quantitative ratio of
3:20these elements here is completely
3:22different, since in a traditional
3:24nuclear charge, beryllium performs
3:26important, but nevertheless secondary
3:29functions. Firstly, it reflects the
3:32neutrons generated during the nuclear
3:34reaction from the plutonium. And by
3:37reflecting, it returns them back into
3:39the plutonium sphere. These returned
3:42neutrons cause the fission of an
3:44additional amount of plutonium nuclei,
3:46which would never have fissioned if
3:48beryllium had not reflected them, but
3:50instead let them pass through or
3:52absorbed them. Secondly, the beryllium
3:56shell in a traditional or boosted
3:59nuclear warhead also serves to some
4:01extent as a tamper, that is, a casing
4:04that keeps the plutonium sphere from
4:07blowing apart prematurely. After all,
4:11the longer this sphere stays together,
4:12the longer the nuclear reaction
4:14continues within it. And the longer
4:17this nuclear reaction lasts, the
4:19greater the amount of plutonium that
4:21manages to fission, and the more that
4:23fissions, the more powerful the nuclear
4:25explosion will be. Admittedly, compared
4:29to natural uranium, it doesn't contain
4:31it very effectively, of course. For if
4:34the duration of a self-sustaining
4:37nuclear reaction in a warhead without a
4:39tamper is taken as one, then its
4:41duration in a warhead with a uranium
4:44tamper would be 9.25, with a tungsten
4:46tamper eight, with lead seven, with
4:49aluminum three, and with beryllium only
4:512.2. In a nuclear bullet, however, the
4:55role of beryllium becomes primary, and
4:57the role of plutonium becomes secondary
4:59. And in principle, such a bullet would
5:01work even without plutonium. Because
5:05its design is based on the same
5:07principle that was used for the neutron
5:09initiators in the very first atomic
5:12bombs. As you remember from the episode
5:17about Davy Crockett, all nuclear
5:19warheads developed after March 17, 1953
5:22, use a neutron initiator based on an
5:25ion gun. In this gun, deuterium nuclei
5:29stripped of their electron shells fly
5:30from the anode to the cathode. This
5:34cathode, the negative electrode, is
5:36typically made of titanium, but the
5:38gaps between the titanium atoms in its
5:40crystal lattice are filled with gaseous
5:43tritium. And when deuterium ions,
5:47accelerated to speeds of 3,100–3,400
5:49m/s, overcome the Coulomb barrier due
5:52to this velocity and collide with
5:54tritium nuclei, the same thermonuclear
5:57reaction occurs as in a hydrogen bomb.
6:01Of course, due to the small amount of
6:03tritium, the heat released in the
6:04process is very insignificant. But
6:08those few million neutrons released as
6:10a result of the reaction between the
6:12tritium and the deuterium fired from
6:15the ion gun are quite enough to trigger
6:17the self-sustaining nuclear chain
6:20reaction in the main charge at the
6:22right moment. But before this neutron
6:27initiator was invented—that is, in
6:30atomic bombs created before 1953, and
6:33in the first Indian atomic bomb in 1974
6:35—there was another twenty-millimeter
6:38sphere in the hollow core of the main
6:41plutonium ball, consisting mostly of
6:44beryllium. This sphere was also
6:47composite. Two twenty-millimeter
6:49hemispheres were placed over a
6:51ten-millimeter monolithic inner sphere.
6:54These had corresponding recesses for
6:56this inner sphere. The surface of the
7:00inner sphere was covered with gold foil
7:02, onto which a multitude of tiny
7:04pyramids made of polonium-210 were
7:06glued. And because of the presence of
7:10these pyramids, this device inside the
7:11bomb was named the "Urchin.""Urchin"
7:14translates as sea urchin. Although,
7:16when referring to a sea urchin, people
7:18usually just say "urchin." Why add this
7:22"sea"? Yes, because until the middle of
7:26the 15th century, the word "urchin" was
7:29used to describe a perfectly ordinary
7:31terrestrial hedgehog, which then,
7:33starting around 1450, began to be
7:36called—initially ironically, and by
7:38the mid-15th century quite seriously—
7:41by the compound word "hedgehog," where
7:43"hog" is a pig and "hedge" is a thorny
7:46fence. The polonium pyramids were also
7:50covered with the same thin foil on top
7:52so that, during storage, the polonium
7:54would not come into contact with the
7:56beryllium. But when the implosion
7:59charge began to compress the entire
8:01structure, the foil would tear, the
8:03pyramids would pierce the inner surface
8:05of the outer hemispheres, and the
8:06polonium would begin to contact the
8:08beryllium. And it was because of this
8:11contact that the very effect for which
8:13this device was created would begin to
8:15manifest. The point is that the
8:18polonium isotope with a mass number of
8:21210 is a powerful source of so-called
8:23alpha radiation. This means that over
8:27time—and not a very long time—
8:29polonium atoms turn into lead atoms.
8:32And during this transformation, they
8:34emit an alpha particle. Every second,
8:38each gram of this substance emits 166
8:41trillion of these very alpha particles,
8:44which, as you recall, are helium nuclei
8:46stripped of their electron shells. And
8:50when these same alpha particles strike
8:53the nuclei of beryllium atoms, these
8:56helium nuclei, each consisting of two
8:58protons and two neutrons, turn the
9:01beryllium atoms into carbon atoms. And
9:04the process of this transformation is
9:06accompanied not only by the release of
9:08heat but also by the formation of one
9:11free neutron. Thus, the 11 mg of
9:14polonium contained in this "urchin,"
9:17from the moment the gold foil was
9:19breached until the "urchin" turned into
9:22plasma, managed to knock about 96
9:24million neutrons out of the 7.5 g of
9:27beryllium. This was quite enough to
9:30trigger a nuclear reaction in the
9:32plutonium sphere. And no one cared that
9:35the reaction of converting beryllium
9:37into carbon under the influence of
9:39alpha particles is also exothermic,
9:42meaning it occurs not by absorbing heat
9:44, but by releasing it. And a fairly
9:47large amount of this heat is released.
9:51This amount, admittedly, is 36 times
9:53less than that released by the fission
9:55of plutonium nuclei. But in terms of
9:58the number of nuclei per unit of mass,
10:01beryllium exceeds plutonium by 26.5
10:03times. It is just that beryllium nuclei
10:06are comparably smaller, and therefore,
10:08many more of them fit into a gram or
10:10kilogram of beryllium than in a gram or
10:12kilogram of plutonium. Of course, a
10:16kilogram of plutonium still exceeds a
10:19kilogram of beryllium in energy release
10:21, but it exceeds it by only 1.37 times.
10:26If the fission of a kilogram of
10:28plutonium releases energy equal to that
10:31released by the explosion of 19,870
10:34tons of TNT, then the TNT equivalent of
10:37the beryllium-to-carbon conversion
10:39reaction is 14.5 kilotons per kilogram.
10:44However, the trouble is that in order
10:46to make that kilogram react, an
10:48incredibly larger amount of polonium
10:50would be needed. In theory, 23.3
10:53kilograms, and in practice, even more.
10:57Truth be told, there was certainly no
10:59such practice, because polonium,
11:01although not as rare as californium, is
11:03still produced in very small quantities
11:05. For instance, in 2025, production
11:08volume amounted to only 5 grams.
11:12Therefore, the task of creating a
11:14polonium-beryllium bomb of nuclear
11:16power is not feasible, but the task of
11:19creating a beryllium-polonium nuclear
11:21bullet becomes achievable. After all,
11:25under the influence of alpha particles,
11:27the nuclear reaction of converting
11:29beryllium into carbon will occur with
11:32any amount of beryllium, and the
11:34concept of critical mass simply does
11:36not exist in this process. If, as a
11:40result of the contact between polonium
11:42and beryllium, a milligram reacts, then
11:44the blast force of a beryllium-filled
11:47bullet would equal the simultaneous
11:49explosion of 252-millimeter artillery
11:51shells. The shock wave from such a
11:55bullet's explosion will guaranteed kill
11:57at a distance of 5.5 meters. The
12:01probability of being killed will
12:03persist up to 22 meters, and the
12:05concussive effect will extend up to a
12:0737-meter distance. Admittedly, the
12:10light radiation from such an explosion
12:12will be very weak. It will not burn
12:14anyone or ignite anything. But on the
12:17other hand, the lethal radius of
12:19penetrating radiation will exceed the
12:21lethal radius of the shock wave. And
12:25those who are closer than 7 meters to
12:27the explosion will be killed instantly
12:29by radiation, and the lethal effect of
12:31the radiation will persist up to 25
12:33meters from the explosion. But those
12:37affected will not die instantly;
12:39depending on their proximity to the
12:40center of the blast, they will live
12:42from an hour to a month. The
12:45probability that radiation from such a
12:48bullet will sooner or later cause
12:51someone's death persists up to 39
12:53meters, while the harmful effects of
12:56penetrating radiation will disappear
12:59completely at 74 meters. At the same
13:04time, a beryllium-polonium bullet is
13:06very safe to store and carry because,
13:09firstly, beryllium itself is not
13:11radioactive, and while polonium is
13:13radioactive, it does not emit neutrons;
13:16all it emits is that same alpha
13:18radiation, which is easily shielded by
13:21the aforementioned gold foil. But on
13:24the other hand, besides the fact that
13:26polonium is rare and expensive, it is
13:28also extremely short-lived. Its
13:32half-life is 138 days, so due to the
13:35combination of high cost and the short
13:37lifespan of polonium, the
13:39beryllium-polonium bullet was deemed
13:41ineffective, but instead, they proposed
13:44a beryllium-plutonium one—that is,
13:46the one consisting of the same
13:48components that make up classic nuclear
13:51charges. But I intend to tell you about
13:54this type of nuclear bullet in the next
13:57episode on this topic. And you have
13:59been with Sergey Shumakov, and you were
14:01watching the Truth of Life channel.

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