Check out my first novel, midnight's simulacra!

Nuclear weapons: Difference between revisions

From dankwiki
Line 22: Line 22:


===Books===
===Books===
The following textbooks range from introductory to advanced material, and all require some basic physics and associated mathematical sophistication.
The following textbooks range from introductory to advanced material, and all require some basic physics and associated mathematical sophistication. For obvious reasons, textbooks on actual weapon design, testing, engineering and maintenance are difficult to come across.
* Kenneth Krane's [http://www.amazon.com/Introductory-Nuclear-Physics-Kenneth-Krane/dp/047180553X Introductory Nuclear Physics] (assumes an undergraduate background in quantum mechanics)
* Kenneth Krane's [http://www.amazon.com/Introductory-Nuclear-Physics-Kenneth-Krane/dp/047180553X Introductory Nuclear Physics] (assumes an undergraduate background in quantum mechanics)
* Weston Stacey's [http://www.amazon.com/Fusion-Plasma-Physics-Textbook/dp/3527405860/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240110013&sr=1-3 Fusion Plasma Physics] (assumes a strong background in electromagnetics)
* Weston Stacey's [http://www.amazon.com/Fusion-Plasma-Physics-Textbook/dp/3527405860/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240110013&sr=1-3 Fusion Plasma Physics] (assumes a strong background in electromagnetics)
* James J. Dunderstadt's [http://www.amazon.com/Nuclear-Reactor-Analysis-James-Duderstadt/dp/0471223638/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240110092&sr=1-1 Nuclear Reactor Physics]
* James J. Dunderstadt's [http://www.amazon.com/Nuclear-Reactor-Analysis-James-Duderstadt/dp/0471223638/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240110092&sr=1-1 Nuclear Reactor Physics]
* Robert Serber's [http://www.amazon.com/Los-Alamos-Primer-Lectures-Atomic/dp/0520075765/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240110184&sr=1-1 Los Alamos Primer]
* Robert Serber's [http://www.amazon.com/Los-Alamos-Primer-Lectures-Atomic/dp/0520075765/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240110184&sr=1-1 Los Alamos Primer]
* IANUS scientists Andre Gsponer and Jean-Pierre Hurni authored the technical report "[http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/News/INESAPTR1.html The Physical Principles Of Thermonuclear Explosives, Inertial Confinement Fusion, And The Quest For Fourth Generation Nuclear Weapons]". It's available from the IANUS website.


There's pretty much an endless line of popular-audience books about nuclear weapons, especially their early design and the characters behind them (I've got about a dozen biographies of J. Robert Oppenheimer alone). These require no particular scientific or mathematic background. Of them, the best include:
There's pretty much an endless line of popular-audience books about nuclear weapons, especially their early design and the characters behind them (I've got about a dozen biographies of J. Robert Oppenheimer alone). These require no particular scientific or mathematic background. Of them, the best include:

Revision as of 03:57, 19 April 2009

Basic Physics

Fission Weapons

Criticality - subcritical - supercritical - prompt criticality - critcial insertion time - insertion (gun-type) method - spontaneous fission - implosion method Liquid drop model - superdeformation - hyperdeformation (put these in physics?) Th233 - U233 - U235 - U238 - Pu249 - Pu240 - transuranics Enrichment levels - enrichment methods - degradation - downblending Neutron sources - prompt neutrons - delayed neutrons

Fusion Weapons and Boosting

Delivery Systems

Missile Defense

See Also

Books

The following textbooks range from introductory to advanced material, and all require some basic physics and associated mathematical sophistication. For obvious reasons, textbooks on actual weapon design, testing, engineering and maintenance are difficult to come across.

There's pretty much an endless line of popular-audience books about nuclear weapons, especially their early design and the characters behind them (I've got about a dozen biographies of J. Robert Oppenheimer alone). These require no particular scientific or mathematic background. Of them, the best include: