There are many different ways to become a photographer, one of them I see is to stop...
dmitry24 02-03-2010 21:42
I’ll take the risk of creating a topic and possibly being bombarded with something, I don’t know what they usually throw at you here.
I was reminded the other day of Yugoslavia in 1999, when the Americans tested BLU-114/B graphite bombs, which disabled high-voltage electrical systems.
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphite_bomb
And a little later I remembered about explosive magnetic generators, which are generally disposable, but have outstanding characteristics - hundreds of kiloamperes and kilovolts of output voltage, multiplied by fairly small dimensions.
http://bse.sci-lib.com/particle004224.html 
This is the essence of the idea. A graphite bomb is capable of hitting only an object at high potential, causing insulation breakdowns, arcing effects, simply short circuits in various circuits, etc. No high voltage- no damaging effect.
What if you add a small explosive magnetic generator to a graphite bomb? In principle, when graphite filaments are released, as in the BLU-114/B, or simply graphite dust, it can penetrate into the smallest technological holes of electronic equipment, stick to sensors, contacts, antennas, etc., and the charge released during operation explosive magnetic generator will firstly cause multiple electrical discharges in a cloud of graphite dust, disabling electronic equipment, secondly, part of the graphite must heat up and burn, providing some thermal damaging factor.
What do you think of the idea?
AleX413 03-03-2010 12:33
The idea itself is nothing... You can’t do it in dust, otherwise breakdown will happen right on the spot and the ionized cloud around the bomb will absorb all the energy. Only if you add conductors to the bomb, which will be scattered to the sides before detonation. Don’t scatter graphite threads within a decent radius, it’s easier thin wire on spools or durable metallized threads, such as Lurex. Nothing special is required from the wires. Just create channels for subsequent breakdown through the air, and then they can evaporate.
The only question is how far the bobbins with wires can be scattered. You have to go at least a hundred meters, otherwise there’s no point. Let's say we stick a bomb into the ground (slowing it down with a parachute), shoot from the bottom of the coil in different directions and, after some time, detonate it. In any case, even if the part does not unwind or not to its full length, it will not be worse.
dmitry24 03-03-2010 02:53
I guess, yes. You can design the product in the form of a descending container with a small parachute; on approaching the ground, cassettes with reels are fired in a fan around the perimeter, from which wire is unwound, or even better - not wire, but nylon fishing line with a conductive coating. After shooting the fan vertically down into the ground, the second electrode is fired, after which the generator is started and fired.
In principle, the fan can be of a very large diameter; for the same “Bassoon” (if I’m not mistaken), the wire unwound over 2 kilometers at a rocket speed of about 200 m/s. Those. in 1 second you can cover an area with a diameter of 400 meters, without fear of breaking the wires.
And after starting the generator, there is a fairly high probability that all electronics, possibly with the exception of vacuum devices and well-shielded ones, that fall into the affected area will be damaged, probably even beyond the possibility of recovery.
AleX413 03-03-2010 03:39
In general, yes, you can’t stick a bomb. Then it's even easier. In time, together with the parachute, we release a cable with a load from the front - grounding and a simple altitude sensor in one bottle, as in American thermobaric bombs from the Vietnam War. The load falls to the ground, the tension of the cable weakens - we fire the coils and then detonate. Cable with a reserve of 10 meters...
theTBAPb 03-03-2010 19:50
Quite an interesting idea; Unfortunately, it is difficult to assess its prospects by eye. It may turn out to be viable if it can ensure the destruction of either a larger area than existing bombs, or targets that cannot be hit by conventional bombs. In principle, both the first and the second are very likely.
On the technical side, electrocution is, of course, a thought; but the transmission of electricity by throwing conductors is, of course, a proven method, but far from the only one - for example, this article describes many different methods of transmitting energy to a target (graphite fibers are among the first), and I think we simply do not appreciate the potential of the idea , without considering them in this vein
For example, instead of throwing a fan of conductors, it looks tempting to form a conducting channel by ionizing the air with a UV laser beam - this way the bomb becomes IMHO more flexible in use. To power the lasers, you can use another explosive generator, or you can make them yourself based on disposable active elements (I’ve heard about such, but unfortunately I don’t know the details)
dmitry24 03-03-2010 20:30
but the transmission of electricity by throwing conductors
The conductors serve to form a plasma channel. When discharged, they will instantly evaporate, because... The power of the generator is commensurate with the power of a lightning discharge, with all that it entails.
In the article at the link, by the way, this method of energy transfer is referred to as “Plasma”. Only the author suggests first “breaking through” the plasma channel by throwing superheated graphite spheres or plasma beams, but here - everything is simple - the channel is broken right during the discharge.
The fired conductors should not reach the ground, they should simply hang in the air, forming an “umbrella” over the affected area. And at the moment of discharge, they will evaporate, forming plasma channels through which a powerful discharge will run, itself “searching” for the target, because the shortest distance to the second electrode - the ground - will lie through the conductors that come along the discharge path. Plus, there is powerful ionization of the air, illumination of radar, night vision devices, and a powerful magnetic pulse.
On the other hand, I installed a lightning rod - and that’s it - the generator will discharge through it, and such a damaging factor as an electric discharge is eliminated, only the magnetic component remains.
I see the use of such a device as a way to temporarily “blind” a radar, destroy unprotected electronics, usually small ones - walkie-talkies, positioning system receivers, etc., i.e. primarily the enemy’s mobile communications and communications equipment.
In theory, the product can be described as a capacitor, one electrode of which is infinitely large - the ground, and the second - round, of a given diameter, located at the height of shooting the conductors. Knowing the properties of the medium, one can simply calculate the conditions for electrical breakdown, and taking into account the power of the generator, the area of the “fan” and its configuration, the breakdown is likely to be multiple.
Yes, with such things you can bomb Skynet to death!
Of course, yes, it’s unlikely that this thing will ever be not only implemented, but at least tested in practice, because This is a non-profit business, and no one in our country needs it. It’s enough to look at the conditions under which people involved in high-power electrical processes work, and you’ll grab your head and go on a binge.
theTBAPb 04-03-2010 22:33
dmitry24, it goes without saying that the conductor will turn into plasma, but you still have to throw it. Those. the principle still remains similar to throwing a conductor, plasma is added as a nice by-effect
Laser ionization seems to me simply more convenient
The original version also has some prospects - with a cloud of graphite threads suspended in the air
Electricity follows the path of least resistance, but in a cloud of filaments this path is constantly changing - the filaments in the air are constantly changing their relative positions, and you can choose the parameters of the filaments so that after each discharge the plasma channel is broken due to the instantaneous combustion of the filament and the dispersion of the plasma by its flash. So, instead of stationary plasma channels, we will get wandering ones, which will clear the affected area more completely and densely - with some probability and past the lightning rod.
The saving role of a lightning rod, by the way, is questionable with a sufficiently powerful discharge - the potential and “step” voltage of the earth near its grounding may be sufficient to cause damage.
For blinding, radar is a thing; However, if we are not talking about damage to the radar electronics by electric discharge and EMR, but rather about blinding by a radio-opaque cloud of plasma, then this method IMHO turns out to be quite short-acting and therefore expensive
AleX413 04-03-2010 23:29
quote: Originally posted by theTBAPb:
The original version also has some prospects - with a cloud of graphite threads suspended in the air
None at all. The radius of destruction of these bombs is limited not by the power of the charge or by anything else inside, but by the ionization of the air around the bomb. And after a certain limit, efficiency does not increase, but rather, on the contrary, only decreases.
And there is only one way to fight it - increasing the size (radius) of the source itself.
dmitry24 05-03-2010 01:14
And if you make the product not in the form of a bomb, but in the form of a grenade for RPG-7, like the PG-7VR? A capsule charge can act as a leading charge, forming a graphite spot on the surface of the target and around it, and a generator can act as the main charge. In this situation, the delivery of graphite dust and the generator occurs directly to the target, which, it seems to me, should increase efficiency. It would be interesting to know the dependence of the power of an explosive magnetic generator on its mass and size.
Or maybe it makes sense to have a cumulative action munition, supplemented with a generator, for additional ionization of the cumulative jet?
AleX413 05-03-2010 02:35
And then let’s add... We divide the engine checker into the engine itself and the gas generator according to the type of tracer, with high temperature and plus the release of easily ionized waste. The trail of smoke behind the shot is one half. And a small racket in front so that the second one could be fired back before the explosion. Then rub and...
Only PG-7 contact action. It is necessary to organize measuring the distance and detonation at a given point. By time or by the number of revolutions of the shot. The bomb’s capacitors are also charged by the aircraft before being dropped.
theTBAPb 05-03-2010 20:06
quote: It would be interesting to know the dependence of the power of an explosive magnetic generator on its mass and size.
I don’t know exactly, but roughly it can be estimated as the power of explosive transformation multiplied by the efficiency of conversion to electricity. the last one, I think, is about 30-40%
Rumorukato 07-03-2010 01:00
In fact, everything is not so rosy - remember, magnetic fields have a quadratic inversely proportional relationship, and electromagnetic fields - both static and pulsed, too.
Explosive generators operate on the principle of shortening a circuit with oscillations excited in it by the method of sequential short-circuiting of turns, which occurs quasi-instantaneously.
Thus, at the output we will get the energy spent on exciting the oscillations, but splashed out in a short period of time, moreover, multiplied by the efficiency of the system, which is clearly low.
That is, if you want to hit an object with high voltage, there is no point in wasting energy converting it back and forth. A cloud of conductive parts, especially those with easily formed ionization channels, will simply absorb all the energy of the electromagnetic charge. There is no doubt that in this case it will definitely warm up, but only chemical thermobaric charges will be more effective..
In general, electromagnetic charges are a rather controversial topic. As practice has shown, fairly high-quality shielded equipment treats them completely indifferently, unless the detonation is carried out in close proximity, then the equipment will undoubtedly be damaged, and mainly by high-explosive fragmentation.
Regarding the ground-charge "capacitor" - it is very curious, where does the second pole of the charge go? or are you going to stuff it with magnetic monopoles?
dmitry24 07-03-2010 02:19
quote: Originally posted by Rumorukato:
It’s very interesting, where does the second pole of the charge go?
So! The cable communicates with the ground.
Rumorukato 08-03-2010 01:26
At the same time, can you graphically depict the direction of currents and EMF?
Adonikam 14-02-2011 19:36
quote: explosive generators operate on the principle of shortening a circuit with oscillations excited in it by the method of sequential short-circuiting of turns, which occurs quasi-instantaneously.
Question: Does the efficiency of the Generator strongly depend on the speed at which the fault propagates through the explosive? Is it possible to close the turns with a UV laser (ionizing the space between the turns - closing them), microwave or something else, the main thing is to increase the speed of shortening the circuit to about light speed. It makes sense?
AleX413 15-02-2011 12:25
Efficiency depends indirectly. The peak power and the duration of the leading edge clearly depend.
But you can’t do that. The short circuit must occur (significantly) slower than the propagation of EM waves in the shorted conductor. If it’s faster, we’ll get a short circuit and that’s it.
Adonikam 15-02-2011 17:13
AleX413 16-02-2011 07:47
I thought about something else - after all, you don’t have to short-circuit the coil, but stretch it... Well, yes, the speed is an order of magnitude less... Well, to hell with it. But it’s simple, cheap and reliable, even in the knee version.
kotowsk 17-02-2011 23:23
what will happen if a person hangs on a power line? nothing will happen. A person will be deterred only by the “step voltage”, and for this, the conductivity must not be improved, but reduced.
true for some reason:
For operation and repair of electrical installations
voltage over 1000 V, as well as repair of overhead lines
power transmission without voltage relief, work at heights,
repair of control and measuring instruments and thermal automation
power plants and substations, female electricians are not allowed
floor.
http://www.bestpravo.ru/fed1997/data01/tex11047.htm
but it still has almost no effect on the fighters.
AleX413 18-02-2011 12:01
quote: Originally posted by kotowsk:
what will happen if a person hangs on a power line? nothing will happen. A person will be deterred only by the “step voltage”, and for this, the conductivity must not be improved, but reduced.
He will be scared away by himself - a man is his own capacitor. Although it is small, there is also some voltage... Therefore, it may be a little bit bo-bo
In general, touching the wire itself with your hands is no problem. The resistance of an aluminum cable with a diameter of 2 cm is many, many orders of magnitude less than the resistance of the carcass - there will be no stepper
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYmJBxEafEQ
kotowsk 18-02-2011 12:08
quote: He will be scared away by himself - a man is his own capacitor
Well, he’s not shying away. It’s true that they wear special suits there. They showed a program about it. under voltage. maybe they do
quote: a little bit bo-bobut they endure. at least they tolerate it for the money. and in battle God himself commanded to be patient.
Rumorukato 21-02-2011 01:57
The suit there is electrically conductive on the outside, so thanks to the Faraday cage effect, it doesn’t scare anyone away. But since the voltage in the wires is variable, the helicopter’s capacity naturally affects it. Therefore, the potential is equalized by throwing a conductor over the cable.
In 1921, the German physicist O. Gann discovered a hitherto unknown isotope of uranium, which he immediately named uranium-Z. By atomic mass and chemical properties it was no different from those already known. Of interest to science was its half-life - it was slightly longer than that of other isotopes of uranium. In 1935, the Kurchatov brothers, L.I. Rusinov and L.V. Mysovsky obtained a specific isotope of bromine with similar properties. It was after this that world science closely took up the problem called isomerism of atomic nuclei. Since then, several dozen isomeric isotopes with relatively long lifetimes have been found, but now we are interested in only one, namely 178m2Hf (an isotope of hafnium with an atomic mass of 178 units. The m2 in the index allows us to distinguish it from the m1 isotope with the same mass, but other other indicators).
This hafnium isotope differs from its other isomeric counterparts with a half-life of more than a year in having the highest excitation energy - about 1.3 TJ per kilogram of mass, which is approximately equal to the explosion of 300 kilograms of TNT. The release of this entire mass of energy occurs in the form of gamma radiation, although this process is very, very slow. Thus, military use of this hafnium isotope is theoretically possible. It was only necessary to force the atom or atoms to transition from the excited state to the ground state at the appropriate speed. Then the released energy could surpass in effect any existing energy. Theoretically it could.
It came to practice in 1998. Then a group of employees from the University of Texas, led by Carl B. Collins, founded the “Center for Quantum Electronics” in one of the university buildings. Under the serious and pretentious sign were hidden a set of equipment required for such laboratories, mountains of enthusiasm and something that vaguely resembled an X-ray machine from a dentist’s office and an amplifier for an audio system that had fallen into the hands of an evil genius. From these instruments, the Center's scientists assembled a remarkable unit, which was to play a major role in their research.
The amplifier generated an electrical signal with the required parameters, which was converted into X-ray radiation in the X-ray machine. It was aimed at a tiny piece of 178m2Hf lying on an inverted disposable glass. To be honest, this looks far from what advanced science should look like, which, strictly speaking, Collins’ group considered itself to be. For several days, the X-ray device irradiated the hafnium preparation, and the sensors dispassionately recorded everything that they “felt.” It took several more weeks to analyze the results of the experiment. And so, Collins publishes an article about his experiment in the journal Physical Review Letters. As it was said in it, the purpose of the research was to extract the energy of atoms at the will of scientists. The experiment itself was supposed to confirm or refute Collins' theory regarding the possibility of accomplishing such things using x-rays. During the study, measuring equipment recorded an increase in the level of gamma radiation. It was negligibly small, which, at the same time, did not prevent Collins from concluding that it was fundamentally possible to “man-made” bring the isotope into a state of accelerated decay. Mr. Collins's main conclusion looked like this: since it is possible to speed up the process of energy release to a small extent, then there must be some conditions under which the atom will get rid of energy orders of magnitude faster. Most likely, Collins believed, simply increasing the power of the X-ray emitter would be enough to cause an explosion.
True, the world's scientific community read Collins's article with irony. If only because the statements were too loud, and the experimental methodology was questionable. However, as is usual, a number of laboratories around the world tried to repeat the Texans’ experiment, but almost all of them failed. The increase in the level of radiation from the hafnium preparation was within the sensitivity error of the instruments, which certainly did not speak in favor of Collins’ theory. Therefore, the ridicule did not stop, but even intensified. But scientists soon forgot about the unsuccessful experiment.
But the military does not. They really liked the idea of a nuclear isomer bomb. The following arguments were made in favor of such a weapon:
- energy “density”. A kilogram of 178m2Hf, as already mentioned, is equivalent to three centners of TNT. This means that within the dimensions of a nuclear charge you can get a more powerful bomb.
Efficiency. The explosion is an explosion, but the bulk of the hafnium energy is released in the form of gamma radiation, which is not afraid of enemy fortifications, bunkers, etc. Thus, a hafnium bomb can destroy both electronics and enemy personnel without much destruction.
Tactical features. The compact size of a relatively powerful bomb will allow it to be delivered to its location literally in a suitcase. This, of course, is not the Q-bomb from the books of L. Wibberley (a miracle weapon the size of a football, capable of destroying an entire continent), but it is also a very useful thing.
Legal side. When a bomb explodes on nuclear isomers, there is no transformation of one chemical element into another. Accordingly, isomeric weapons cannot be considered nuclear weapons and, as a result, they do not fall under international agreements banning the latter.
It was a small matter: allocate money and carry out everything necessary work. As they say, start and finish. DARPA entered into financial plan for the next few years a line for hafnium bombs. Exactly how much money was ultimately spent on all this is unknown. According to rumors, the number is in the tens of millions, but the figure has not been officially disclosed.
First of all, they decided to reproduce Collins’ experiment again, but now “under the wing” of the Pentagon. At first, the Argonne National Laboratory was assigned to check his work, but even similar results did not come out. Collins, however, referred to insufficient X-ray power. It was increased, but again we did not get the expected results. Collins still answered that it was your own fault - turn the power knob. As a result, Argonne scientists even tried to irradiate the hafnium drug using the high-power APS installation. Needless to say, the results were again not what the Texans were talking about? However, DARPA decided that the project has the right to life, it just needs to be done well. Over the next few years, experiments were carried out in several laboratories and institutes. The apotheosis was the irradiation of 178m2Hf “from” the NSLS synchrotron at Brookhaven National Laboratory. And there, too, despite the increase in radiation energy hundreds of times, the gamma radiation of the isotope was, to put it mildly, small.
At the same time as nuclear physicists, economists were also studying the problem. In the early 2000s, they issued a forecast that sounded like a condemnation of the whole undertaking. One gram of 178m2Hf cannot cost less than 1-1.2 million dollars. In addition, about 30 billion will have to be invested in the production of even such insignificant quantities. To this we must add the costs of creating the ammunition itself and its production. Well, the final nail in the coffin of the hafnium bomb was the fact that even if the NSLS could provoke an “explosion,” the practical use of such a bomb is out of the question.
So DARPA officials, being several years late and spending a lot of public money, in 2004 radically cut funding for the program to study isomeric weapons. They cut back, but did not stop: for another year and a half or two, research continued on the topic of a “laser-like” gamma emitter operating according to the same scheme. Soon, however, this direction was closed too.
In 2005, an article by E.V. was published in the journal Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk. Tkal entitled “Induced decay of the nuclear isomer 178m2Hf and the “isomer bomb””. It examined in detail the theoretical side of reducing the time of energy release by an isotope. Briefly, this can happen in only three ways: the interaction of radiation with the nucleus (in which case decay occurs through an intermediate level), the interaction of radiation and the electron shell (the latter transfers excitation to the nucleus of the atom) and a change in the probability of spontaneous decay. At the same time, at the current and future level of development of science and technology, even with large and over-optimistic assumptions in calculations, it is simply impossible to achieve an explosive release of energy. In addition, in a number of points, Tkalya believes, Collins’ theory comes into conflict with modern views on the fundamentals of nuclear physics. Of course, this could be considered as some kind of revolutionary breakthrough in science, but experiments do not give reason for such optimism.
Now Karl B. Collins generally agrees with the conclusions of his colleagues, but still does not deny isomers practical use. For example, targeted gamma radiation, he believes, can be used to treat cancer patients. And the slow, non-explosive emission of energy from atoms can in the future give humanity super-capacity batteries of enormous power.
However, all this will only happen in the future, near or distant. And then, if scientists decide to take up the problem again practical application nuclear isomers. If those efforts are successful, it is possible that the beaker from the Collins experiment, preserved under glass at the University of Texas (now called the "Dr. K Experiment Memorial Stand"), will be moved to a larger and more respected museum.
For two months, NATO aircraft carried out so-called targeted strikes on economic objects Yugoslavia. With the exception of a few unfortunate missteps, the hits were actually quite accurate - many chemical, pharmaceutical, oil refineries and oil storage facilities were destroyed to the ground.
The use of graphite-filled bombs was quite successful in disabling power lines. In the June issue of our magazine, Professor N.A. Loshadkin spoke about the possible consequences of accidents on
chemical plants
and, taking into account the severity and unpredictability of these consequences, he concluded about a possible covert form of chemical warfare. In mid-June, the international humanitarian group Focus, including Russian and Swiss experts, traveled to Yugoslavia to assess the environmental damage caused by NATO bombing. The Russian part of the experts, consisting of 6 people, was headed by Vladimir Puchkov, Deputy Head of the Department for the Protection of Population and Territories of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. The team covered more than 30% of the country, visiting the most affected areas, including Kosovo. The work lasted two months and was carried out in two stages. The first one was “targeting” - appreciated
general situation , outlined areas and sites for a thorough chemical and radiation survey. As a result of the second, a detailed picture of soil, water, air pollution and the radiation situation in the surveyed territories was formed. Russian experts examined the collected samples right there, on the spot, in a mobile laboratory equipped with sophisticated analytical equipment and a satellite navigation system. Highly sensitive instruments made it possible to analyze soil using 50 parameters and air – up to seventeen. The exception was the analysis of samples for dioxins, which were carried out in Russia, in a special certified laboratory in Ufa.
The Swiss worked differently: the samples taken were mainly sent by air, you will need 5-6 million dollars.
Is the devil as scary as he is painted?
What are the conclusions of the international humanitarian group based on? Here are excerpts from their brief summary:
Thermal Power Plant "New Belgrade": Emission of fuel onto the ground and into the Sava River. Combustion products entered the atmosphere.
Pancevo. Refinery. Tanks containing crude oil and petroleum products were destroyed.
Oil products entered the drain and sewer system. The banks of the canal and the Danube River downstream are contaminated with crude oil residues.
Nitrogen oxides and petroleum products in the soil, a significant amount of soot on the soil and plants. Petrochemical complex "Petrohimia". As a result of the destruction of the technological line of the chlorine production workshop, about 8 tons of metallic mercury and its compounds (chlorides and sulfides) were released into the soil and groundwater. Some of the vinyl chloride got into the soil. All this got into the channel
Wastewater
which flow into the Danube River.
The village of Bogutavets (Kranevo district). Bio Petrol JSC fuel storage facility. 8 tanks were destroyed, about 17,000 tons of petroleum products were released into the environment, some of which ended up in the Ibar River. An excess of the maximum permissible concentration for hydrocarbons was registered by 25 times, and by 2-3 times for sulfur compounds. City of Novi Sad. Oil refining plant The plant was completely destroyed. More than 530 m3 of oil spilled into the river. A large amount of oil combustion products were released into the atmosphere over an area of more than 300 km 2 .
City of Novi Sad. Factory
mineral fertilizers
"Hip Azotara". The ammonia production workshop was completely destroyed and burned. In the area of the destroyed workshop, an excess of the maximum permissible concentration for ammonia was noted by 2-3 times, the presence of sulfur compounds and nitrogen oxides was established, as well as on the soil and buildings.
G. Kragujevac. After the use of a graphite-filled bomb, abnormal natural phenomena and severe thunderstorms were observed. Radiation radiation does not exceed background levels in all studied areas. What is behind this dry information? How dangerous are all these “emissions”, “pollution” and “exceeding MPCs”? What “anomalous natural phenomena” were observed after the use of graphite bombs and could the latter cause severe thunderstorms? Why were the team members measuring radiation - where could it have come from? According to Doctor of Chemical Sciences, Professor of the Academy of Civil Defense of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, member the claim of a possible hidden form of chemical warfare is too strong. Bombing industrial facilities in order to create a source of chemical danger is not very effective: for this it is necessary to create very high concentrations of chlorine, which is impossible. The main purpose of the bombing, in his opinion, is to test new types of weapons and destroy old US military reserves. At the same time, the territory was also polluted. However, according to the professor, the data presented in the report are vague and raise some doubts: it is known that in the field, with the help of mobile laboratories, only a very superficial analysis can be carried out.
Nevertheless, based on these data, in the opinion of Igor Pushkin, there is no doubt about the difficult ecological situation of the surveyed areas.
The release of oil combustion products into the atmosphere - sources of dioxins - over an area of more than 300 km 2 is truly dangerous. Careful studies of soil samples and bottom sediments of rivers taken in the area of Pancevo and Novi Sad actually revealed in them an increased content of dioxins, tens of times higher than the permissible level.
The release of mercury and its compounds - the strongest poisons - and their entry into the soil and groundwater is one of the most serious consequences of bomb destruction. Mercury vapor, which mercilessly affects many vital organs under the influence of solar radiation, together with convection air currents, will either rise up or fall. And so they will be in almost perpetual motion - up to several years - before their concentration decreases to a safe one.
Deadly balls of mercury, which practically do not wet the capillaries of the soil, destroy all living things in it - even microorganisms. The detected nitrogen oxides, interacting with water, always present in the soil, form nitric acid
, burning everything in its path.
Oil soot, which is not processed by the soil for a long time, interferes with the growth of plants, in addition, it gets into the water, which is why living creatures suffer there too: although the hydrocarbons themselves are not harmful, the oxygen dissolved in the water, which is breathed by microorganisms living in the water, daphnia, fish, is consumed for the oxidation of hydrocarbons trapped there.
And what about Mother Russia? However, Igor Pushkin
believes that Yugoslavia could easily cope with all these troubles on its own.
The products of combustion of petroleum products are quite dangerous, but in the capital of our homeland, Moscow, huge quantities of them are constantly burned. As an academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences reported at the Congress of Toxicologists held at the end of last year Victor Tutelyan, The breast milk of Muscovite women contains 2 times more dioxins than the milk of women in the notorious Chapaevsk, the ecological situation in which is estimated by Igor Pushkin to be hundreds of times more dangerous than, as can be judged by the results of the Focus expedition, in Yugoslavia.
In general, as reported at the same congress of toxicologists, in 12% of Russian women the content of dioxins in breast milk exceeds their permissible concentration.
An analysis of dioxin pollution at enterprises in the Moscow region carried out in 1996 showed that out of 36 surveyed facilities, the pollution of seven of them was classified as “large”, while the rest - as “significant”. And the dioxin load, according to toxicologists, is constantly growing.
As for other types of chemical pollutants, according to Roshydromet, at least 4.22 million tons of sulfur and 4.0 million tons of nitrogen fall in the form of acid rain on the territory of Russia annually. And as Greenpeace reported this spring, over the past 27 years, 1,460 tons of mercury have been discharged into the Bratsk Reservoir on the Angara River, the highest concentration of which can be traced over a distance of 120 km. The undisputed leader of these dumps, Usolyekhimprom, still replenishes these reserves with 2.5 tons of mercury every month. It is not difficult to calculate how many times 8 tons of mercury (spilled in Yugoslavia) are dumped into the Angara per year. And how many millions of dollars, I wonder, will it be necessary to spend to eliminate environmental disasters in Russia?
Wonder bombs It is obvious that the interest of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations in the ecological state of wounded Yugoslavia is caused not only by fraternal sympathy and concern for environment
However, it may not be all about the money. Well, who isn’t interested in getting to know new, ultra-precise weapons, or at least tiny projectiles the size of a ballpoint pen, equipped with uranium tips, or unusual bombs filled not only with explosives, but also with seemingly harmless graphite?
The projectile, approximately 25 cm long, is filled with palm-sized squibs, each containing up to several tens of meters of tightly rolled graphite fibers. A bomb exploding at some height above the ground sends these graphite conductors across power lines, causing bright fireworks of short circuits to then plunge everything into pitch darkness. But these are all phenomena of human hands. Where do the unusual natural phenomena observed by eyewitnesses come from?
As we were told by the leading researcher of the Federal Information and Analytical Center of Roshydromet NPO "Typhoon" Boris Yurchak, there is a pre-storm stage during which an increase in air conductivity between the thundercloud and the ground can initiate lightning, that is, simply the discharge of electricity accumulated in the clouds to the ground.
At one time, in order to actively influence the electrical state of clouds, quite successful experiments were carried out by launching a rocket with a long lightning rod towards the cloud, through which cloud electricity was discharged.
During a discharge, a strong current flowing through a graphite filament can cause it to glow and burn out, which from the outside should look like a lightning discharge. Which, apparently, was perceived by observers as multiple lightning strikes or unusual natural phenomena.
However, scientists are not sure whether a graphite cloud or filament alone is enough to create a conductive column between the cloud and the ground.
Reports of the use by NATO aircraft of another unusual weapon - shells with uranium tips - turned out to be another, and perhaps the main reason for the thorough radiometric studies of the territory of Yugoslavia by experts from the Focus group. In the city of Vranje, in the area of the damaged television and radio broadcast tower, they actually managed to find empty shell blanks, as well as the shells themselves, which did not explode by chance. In none of the other areas examined was evidence of the use of “uranium” bombs found.
According to an expedition participant, the head of the radiological laboratory of the Monitoring Directorate emergency situations and laboratory control of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Oleg Rakunov, measurements of alpha and gamma radiation in places where uranium shells hit - small in diameter, the size of a mole hole, but extremely deep holes - did not show an excess of the background. Empty blanks and unexploded shells emitted an intensity of 400-500 microR/hour, which is three dozen times higher than the permissible level in Moscow, but already a meter away from them there was no excess of background, which is quite logical, given the intense absorption of alpha radiation by air.
Gamma spectrometric measurements of the soil did not reveal its contamination with radionuclides. In short, the uranium shells, fortunately, did not cause an environmental disaster. As another expedition participant, the head of the laboratory control department of the Emergency Situations Monitoring Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, told us Victor Vinnikov , in Serbia the group observed great destruction not only industrial enterprises , but also transport communications, energy supply systems and hydraulic structures, and the Serbs are very actively pursuing restoration work
on their own territory, which cannot be said at all about the Kosovo Albanians, who passively await outside help and actually receive it. And according to Oleg Rakunov, perhaps the main goal of the Focus group expedition is to draw attention to Serbia, which is no less in need of help than Kosovo.
Tatyana Zimina
In 1921, the German physicist O. Gann discovered a hitherto unknown isotope of uranium, which he immediately named uranium-Z. In terms of atomic mass and chemical properties, it did not differ from the already known isotopes of uranium. Of interest to science was its half-life - it was slightly longer than that of other isotopes of uranium. In 1935, the Kurchatov brothers, L.I. Rusinov and L.V. Mysovsky obtained a specific isotope of bromine with similar properties.
It was after this that world science closely took up the problem called isomerism of atomic nuclei. Since then, several dozen isomeric isotopes with relatively long lifetimes have been found, but now we are interested in only one, namely 178m2Hf - hafnium isotope with an atomic mass of 178 units. m2 in the index allows you to distinguish between it and the m1 isotope with the same mass, but different other indicators.
This hafnium isotope differs from its other isomeric counterparts with a half-life of more than a year by the highest excitation energy - about 1.3 TJ per kilogram of mass, which is approximately equal to the explosion of 300 kilograms of TNT. The release of this entire mass of energy occurs in the form of gamma radiation, although this process is very, very slow.
Thus, military use of this hafnium isotope is theoretically possible. It was only necessary to force the atom or atoms to transition from the excited state to the ground state at the appropriate speed. Then the released energy could surpass the effect of any existing weapon. Theoretically it could.
It came to practice in 1998. Then a group of employees from the University of Texas, led by Carl B. Collins, founded the “Center for Quantum Electronics” in one of the university buildings. Under the serious and pretentious sign were hidden a set of equipment required for such laboratories, mountains of enthusiasm and something that vaguely resembled an X-ray machine from a dentist’s office and an amplifier for an audio system that had fallen into the hands of an evil genius. From these instruments, the Center's scientists assembled a remarkable unit, which was to play a major role in their research.
The amplifier generated an electrical signal with the required parameters, which was converted into X-ray radiation in the X-ray machine. It was directed at a tiny piece of 178m2Hf lying on an inverted disposable glass. To be honest, this looks far from what advanced science should look like, which, strictly speaking, Collins’ group considered itself to be.
For several days, the X-ray device irradiated the hafnium preparation, and the sensors dispassionately recorded everything that they “felt.” It took several more weeks to analyze the results of the experiment. And so, Collins publishes an article about his experiment in the journal Physical Review Letters. As it was said in it, the purpose of the research was to extract the energy of atoms at the will of scientists. The experiment itself was supposed to confirm or refute Collins' theory regarding the possibility of accomplishing such things using x-rays.
During the study, measuring equipment recorded an increase in the level of gamma radiation. It was negligibly small, which, at the same time, did not prevent Collins from concluding that it was fundamentally possible to “man-made” bring the isotope into a state of accelerated decay. Mr. Collins's main conclusion looked like this: since it is possible to speed up the process of energy release to a small extent, then there must be some conditions under which the atom will get rid of energy orders of magnitude faster.
Most likely, Collins believed, simply increasing the power of the X-ray emitter would be enough to cause an explosion. True, the world's scientific community read Collins's article with irony. If only because the statements were too loud, and the experimental methodology was questionable. However, as is usual, a number of laboratories around the world tried to repeat the Texans’ experiment, but almost all of them failed.
The increase in the level of radiation from the hafnium preparation was within the sensitivity error of the instruments, which certainly did not speak in favor of Collins’ theory. Therefore, the ridicule did not stop, but even intensified. But scientists soon forgot about the unsuccessful experiment.
But the military does not. They really liked the idea of a nuclear isomer bomb. The following arguments were spoken in favor of such weapons::
— energy "density" . A kilogram of 178m2Hf, as already mentioned, is equivalent to three centners of TNT. This means that within the dimensions of a nuclear charge you can get a more powerful bomb.
- efficiency. The explosion is an explosion, but the bulk of the hafnium energy is released in the form of gamma radiation, which is not afraid of enemy fortifications, bunkers, etc. Thus, a hafnium bomb can destroy both electronics and enemy personnel without much destruction.
— tactical features . The compact size of a relatively powerful bomb will allow it to be delivered to its location literally in a suitcase. This, of course, is not the Q-bomb from the books of L. Wibberley (a miracle weapon the size of a football, capable of destroying an entire continent), but it is also a very useful thing.
— legal side .
When a bomb explodes on nuclear isomers, there is no transformation of one chemical element into another. Accordingly, isomeric weapons cannot be considered nuclear weapons and, as a result, they do not fall under international agreements banning the latter. It was a small matter: allocate money and carry out all the necessary work. As they say, start and finish. DARPA has included a line item for hafnium bombs in its financial plan for the next few years
. Exactly how much money was ultimately spent on all this is unknown. According to rumors, the number is in the tens of millions, but the figure has not been officially disclosed.
First of all, they decided to reproduce Collins’ experiment again, but now “under the wing” of the Pentagon. At first, the Argonne National Laboratory was assigned to check his work, but even similar results did not come out. Collins, however, referred to insufficient X-ray power. It was increased, but again we did not get the expected results.
Collins still answered that it was your own fault - turn the power knob. As a result, Argonne scientists even tried to irradiate the hafnium drug using the high-power APS installation. Needless to say, the results were again not what the Texans were talking about? However, DARPA decided that the project has the right to life, it just needs to be done well.
Over the next few years, experiments were carried out in several laboratories and institutes. The apotheosis was the irradiation of 178m2Hf “from” the NSLS synchrotron at Brookhaven National Laboratory. And there, too, despite the increase in radiation energy hundreds of times, the gamma radiation of the isotope was, to put it mildly, small. Economists were also studying the problem at the same time as nuclear physicists. . In the early 2000s, they issued a forecast that sounded like a condemnation of the whole undertaking. One gram 178m2Hf cannot cost less than 1-1.2 million dollars
So DARPA officials, being several years late and spending a lot of public money, in 2004 radically cut funding for the program to study isomeric weapons. They cut back, but did not stop: for another year and a half or two, research continued on the topic of a “laser-like” gamma emitter operating according to the same scheme. Soon, however, this direction was closed too.
In 2005, the journal “Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk” published an article by E.V. Tkal entitled “Induced decay of the nuclear isomer 178m2Hf and the “isomer bomb”. It examined in detail the theoretical side of reducing the time of energy release by an isotope. In short, this can only happen three ways:
— interaction of radiation with the nucleus (in this case, decay occurs through an intermediate level),
— interaction of radiation and the electron shell (the latter transmits excitation to the atomic nucleus),
— change in the probability of spontaneous decay.
At the same time, at the current and future level of development of science and technology, even with large and over-optimistic assumptions in calculations, it is simply impossible to achieve an explosive release of energy. In addition, in a number of points, Tkalya believes, Collins’ theory comes into conflict with modern views on the fundamentals of nuclear physics. Of course, this could be considered as some kind of revolutionary breakthrough in science, but experiments do not give reason for such optimism.
Now Karl B. Collins generally agrees with the conclusions of his colleagues, but still does not deny isomers practical use. For example, targeted gamma radiation, he believes, can be used to treat cancer patients. And the slow, non-explosive emission of energy from atoms can in the future give humanity super-capacity batteries of enormous power.
However, all this will only happen in the future, near or distant. And only if scientists decide to take up the problem of practical application of nuclear isomers again. If those efforts are successful, it is possible that the beaker from the Collins experiment, preserved under glass at the University of Texas (now called the "Dr. K Experiment Memorial Stand"), will be moved to a larger and more respected museum.
The rupture of the charge leads to their dissipation and, when they hit power lines or electrical substations, leads to a short circuit and failure of connected devices, and leads to paralysis of power systems in a given area. Does not involve casualties. One of the first uses dates back to May 2, when the submunition was tested in the war against Yugoslavia BLU-114/B. The use of graphite bombs in Yugoslavia cannot be called widespread: only five out of several dozen Yugoslav power plants were targeted by NATO.
Delivery vehicles for graphite bombs may include cruise missiles.
One of the means of combating a graphite bomb is to temporarily shut down power lines, electrical and traction substations for the duration of the projectile, that is, until all the graphite dust sprayed in the air lands on the ground.
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Excerpt characterizing the Graphite Bomb
The influx of Frenchmen, spreading like a star across Moscow on the day of September 2, reached the block in which Pierre now lived only in the evening.After the last two days, spent alone and unusually, Pierre was in a state close to madness. His whole being was taken over by one persistent thought. He himself did not know how and when, but this thought now took possession of him so that he did not remember anything from the past, did not understand anything from the present; and everything that he saw and heard happened before him as in a dream.
Pierre left his home only to get rid of the complex tangle of life's demands that gripped him, and which, in his then state, he was able to unravel. He went to Joseph Alekseevich’s apartment under the pretext of sorting through the books and papers of the deceased only because he was looking for peace from life’s anxiety - and with the memory of Joseph Alekseevich, a world of eternal, calm and solemn thoughts was associated in his soul, completely opposite to the anxious confusion in which he felt himself being drawn in. He was looking for a quiet refuge and really found it in the office of Joseph Alekseevich. When, in the dead silence of the office, he sat down, leaning on his hands, over the dusty desk of the deceased, memories began to appear in his imagination, calmly and significantly, one after another. last days, especially the Battle of Borodino and that indefinable feeling for him of his insignificance and deceit in comparison with the truth, simplicity and strength of that category of people who were imprinted in his soul under the name they. When Gerasim woke him from his reverie, the thought occurred to Pierre that he would take part in the supposed - as he knew - popular defense of Moscow. And for this purpose, he immediately asked Gerasim to get him a caftan and a pistol and announced to him his intention, hiding his name, to stay in the house of Joseph Alekseevich. Then, during the first solitary and idle day (Pierre tried several times and could not stop his attention on the Masonic manuscripts), he vaguely imagined several times the previously thought about the cabalistic meaning of his name in connection with the name of Bonaparte; but this thought that he, l "Russe Besuhof, was destined to put a limit to the power of the beast, came to him only as one of the dreams that run through his imagination for no reason and without a trace.
