Post by yehang79 on Nov 10, 2023 13:02:55 GMT
Some articles claim that it is possible to transfer a certain percentage to several dozens of percent of the energy of a nuclear bomb explosion into a plasma beam, and use it as a practical weapon to attack the enemy. It is claimed that its origin is the Orion project, and it eventually developed into a weapon called the Casaba Howitzer.
I have always been skeptical about this incredible weapon, and frankly, I don't like it. On the other hand, I have an instinctive aversion to this weapon based on common sense in science: A narrow beam with an angle of about 5°?A speed of 1000km/s? Later tests reduced the angle to 0.057 degrees? Is this sorta 'friendship is magic?' or 'the dark side of THE FORCE?'
In a HEAT shell, the detonation wave compresses the shaped charge towards the center, creating a high-speed stream of metallic fluid. However, is this design still possible in a nuclear HEAT shells like Casaba Howitzers? Is it really possible to heat a metal disk and turn it into a high-speed plasma, while constraining it in a narrow beam? After all, the essence of temperature is random motion. Without the constraints of an electric or magnetic field, how can we prevent the plasma from spreading out in all directions? I just cant believe nuclear lightsabers existing.
So, with bunch of questions, i started googling.
medium.com/@toughsfmatterbeam/the-nuclear-spear-casaba-howitzer-88dc0ba7dff2
As this article claims, using a channel filled with beryllium oxide, focusing the X-rays generated by the explosion on the disk, and heating the disk to generate a beam. In that case, what is the mechanism of plasma confinement? What magic is maintaining the energy compression of the entire nuclear bomb to a needle size? The original text does not say where this enigmatic plasma confinement ability comes from. It may be that the plasma is accelerated to high speeds, so that the speed of thermal motion is insignificant compared to it.
However, looking down, my idea was overturned again; While estimating the beam velocity, the author used temperature to estimate the rate of thermal motion: assuming that the nuclear bomb can heat the metal disk to a temperature of 100 million degrees, then based on the average kinetic energy at that temperature, the velocity of the particles will be approximately 1000 km/s.
This paragraph can be summarized as total nonsense. Estimating beam velocity using temperature is the dumbest thing I've ever seen.
The author also cited data from a paper, insisting that the beam angle can be as low as about 0.057 degrees; it seems that either there is some unknown magic constraining these plasmas, or the author is just making up nonsense throughout the article; in any case, I think it would be worthwhile to read this essay to see what methods capitalists have used to make the plasma behave obediently.
After all these humorous estimations, Then the author began to make a shameless analogy: estimating the energy density based on the needle-like beam, and using the laser penetration depth to estimate the energy density of the plasma to estimate the penetration depth. It's really ridiculous the whole thing is.
“The impact of the nuclear test ban treaty on the third generation of nuclear weapons innovation” is the source of the conclusion quoted by the author above. After reading the paper, let's first summarize the conclusion: the so-called "Casaba Howitzer" is completely different from the previously believed principle! For a long time, since the misinformation in the English popular science article, all lovers of real space warfare have become more and more convinced of this kind of thing. Let's take a look at what the real "Casaba Howitzer" is; at the beginning, the paper gives its classification: NKEW (nuclear kinetic energy weapon).That is to say, it kills the target by projecting a series of solid particles to the target, not plasma. One of its uncertainties: the vaporization of particles only shows that the "Casaba howitzer" not only uses solid particles as an attack method, but also tries to avoid its evaporation - contrary to those fantastic boasts.
As for its principle, it is similar to the famous rumored third cosmic speed flying ultra-mega-hypo-disk: placing a disk at one end of a "gun barrel", when the nuclear bomb explodes, the disk will break into countless small metal fragments and fly forward. Using an 8kt nuclear weapon to accelerate a 40kg tungsten disk, a nuclear bomb can accelerate ten tungsten disks, creating ten debris clouds... If these tungsten disks can produce a large amount of debris (the article says "whether it can is highly questionable"), then ideally, this tungsten disk will produce 4 million tungsten fragments weighing 8mg (which is about the same size as PM2.5), each carrying a kinetic energy of 40kJ, which is equivalent to the energy of 10gTNT. Sounds good, is it? But don't forget that as a hypervelocity collision body, this particle can easily be intercepted by a classic multilayer space debris shield, also known as "whipple shields." Even without this shield, the power of these PM2.5-sized particles is limited: the article says, "These fragments can cause structural damage to satellites and space sensors, but only have a small chance of hitting smaller re-entry vehicles (commonly known as warheads), and even if they hit, they cannot destroy the warhead."
So, to sum up, "Casaba Howitzer" was just a mad attempt in cold war trying to shoot commie nukes, and failed unsurprisingly. Nothing unusual.
I have always been skeptical about this incredible weapon, and frankly, I don't like it. On the other hand, I have an instinctive aversion to this weapon based on common sense in science: A narrow beam with an angle of about 5°?A speed of 1000km/s? Later tests reduced the angle to 0.057 degrees? Is this sorta 'friendship is magic?' or 'the dark side of THE FORCE?'
In a HEAT shell, the detonation wave compresses the shaped charge towards the center, creating a high-speed stream of metallic fluid. However, is this design still possible in a nuclear HEAT shells like Casaba Howitzers? Is it really possible to heat a metal disk and turn it into a high-speed plasma, while constraining it in a narrow beam? After all, the essence of temperature is random motion. Without the constraints of an electric or magnetic field, how can we prevent the plasma from spreading out in all directions? I just cant believe nuclear lightsabers existing.
So, with bunch of questions, i started googling.
medium.com/@toughsfmatterbeam/the-nuclear-spear-casaba-howitzer-88dc0ba7dff2
As this article claims, using a channel filled with beryllium oxide, focusing the X-rays generated by the explosion on the disk, and heating the disk to generate a beam. In that case, what is the mechanism of plasma confinement? What magic is maintaining the energy compression of the entire nuclear bomb to a needle size? The original text does not say where this enigmatic plasma confinement ability comes from. It may be that the plasma is accelerated to high speeds, so that the speed of thermal motion is insignificant compared to it.
However, looking down, my idea was overturned again; While estimating the beam velocity, the author used temperature to estimate the rate of thermal motion: assuming that the nuclear bomb can heat the metal disk to a temperature of 100 million degrees, then based on the average kinetic energy at that temperature, the velocity of the particles will be approximately 1000 km/s.
This paragraph can be summarized as total nonsense. Estimating beam velocity using temperature is the dumbest thing I've ever seen.
The author also cited data from a paper, insisting that the beam angle can be as low as about 0.057 degrees; it seems that either there is some unknown magic constraining these plasmas, or the author is just making up nonsense throughout the article; in any case, I think it would be worthwhile to read this essay to see what methods capitalists have used to make the plasma behave obediently.
After all these humorous estimations, Then the author began to make a shameless analogy: estimating the energy density based on the needle-like beam, and using the laser penetration depth to estimate the energy density of the plasma to estimate the penetration depth. It's really ridiculous the whole thing is.
“The impact of the nuclear test ban treaty on the third generation of nuclear weapons innovation” is the source of the conclusion quoted by the author above. After reading the paper, let's first summarize the conclusion: the so-called "Casaba Howitzer" is completely different from the previously believed principle! For a long time, since the misinformation in the English popular science article, all lovers of real space warfare have become more and more convinced of this kind of thing. Let's take a look at what the real "Casaba Howitzer" is; at the beginning, the paper gives its classification: NKEW (nuclear kinetic energy weapon).That is to say, it kills the target by projecting a series of solid particles to the target, not plasma. One of its uncertainties: the vaporization of particles only shows that the "Casaba howitzer" not only uses solid particles as an attack method, but also tries to avoid its evaporation - contrary to those fantastic boasts.
As for its principle, it is similar to the famous rumored third cosmic speed flying ultra-mega-hypo-disk: placing a disk at one end of a "gun barrel", when the nuclear bomb explodes, the disk will break into countless small metal fragments and fly forward. Using an 8kt nuclear weapon to accelerate a 40kg tungsten disk, a nuclear bomb can accelerate ten tungsten disks, creating ten debris clouds... If these tungsten disks can produce a large amount of debris (the article says "whether it can is highly questionable"), then ideally, this tungsten disk will produce 4 million tungsten fragments weighing 8mg (which is about the same size as PM2.5), each carrying a kinetic energy of 40kJ, which is equivalent to the energy of 10gTNT. Sounds good, is it? But don't forget that as a hypervelocity collision body, this particle can easily be intercepted by a classic multilayer space debris shield, also known as "whipple shields." Even without this shield, the power of these PM2.5-sized particles is limited: the article says, "These fragments can cause structural damage to satellites and space sensors, but only have a small chance of hitting smaller re-entry vehicles (commonly known as warheads), and even if they hit, they cannot destroy the warhead."
So, to sum up, "Casaba Howitzer" was just a mad attempt in cold war trying to shoot commie nukes, and failed unsurprisingly. Nothing unusual.