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Oppenheimer Movie Review

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vad:

--- Quote from: LaserSteve on January 08, 2024, 01:15:08 pm ---Nixe Tube invention is credited to 1955 or so.
So why is there a Nixie clock countdown at Trinity?
Because it looked cool for the movie?

Saw that  on Youtube and gave up on watching the rest of the movie.  Am I the only person on the planet that caught that detail? 

For those folks debating Bridgewires, Mound Lab, here in Ohio, was bragging about diode laser pumped,  fiber optic detonator development long ago. Much easier to sync.

Those who ignore technological history are bound to claim it's redevelopment.

Steve

--- End quote ---
Spot on! Checking the flux capacitor's invention date is crucial for fully enjoying Back to the Future.

LaserSteve:
Was digging through the library at work  { Unclas, Academic}

and was shocked to find a Kapton Tape based "slapper" paper bragging on kilometer per second velocities for very cheap. At the time Kapton was not cheap, but always wanted to try to copy the design in that publication.  In today's world Kapton foil
is s commodity material.

The magic is in the computation,materials processing, machining, gas injection, and explosive lensing. The basics of lensing has been well documented in a recent Youtube video.


What is  amazing is how many processes and materials relating to building a "gadget" have been published.

The fact of the matter, is the scarcity and cost of the required metals is all that's  keeping us safe.


As to Vad's comment..1.21 is the key to the Universe. :clap:

Steve



David Hess:

--- Quote from: LaserSteve on January 08, 2024, 01:15:08 pm ---Krytrons were always dangled as bait to catch the un-weary. Contrary to popular belief, they are not that difficult to make, if your nation has/had a domestic lighting or vacuum tube industry.
--- End quote ---

And at least now, krytrons are not required for high voltage fast switching.  I was actually surprised how poor krytrons perform based on the published datasheet.


--- Quote from: LaserSteve on January 08, 2024, 01:50:00 pm ---The magic is in the computation,materials processing, machining, gas injection, and explosive lensing. The basics of lensing has been well documented in a recent Youtube video.
--- End quote ---

I have done the math for the geometry of an explosive lens, but for a different application.  However the explosive lens geometry requires some empirical testing because of non-linear variation in the velocity of propagation.

LaserSteve:
 I don't think DoE and the USSR maintain all sorts of device myths jointly,. I have an educated guess that a few things used for proliferation monitoring are kept very, very, quiet by mutual agreement of all parties who have devices.  Let's face it, the nuclear industry worldwide has a great PR and recruiting machine. Hiring people who ask really good questions insures a fresh stock of skilled people. So if Hu checks book X out of your library, we're from the Goverment, let us know... Hum, great recruiting tool.


What I think holds back common knowledge in this case are the journalists and book authors regularly regurgitating the same poor explanations over and over again. 

My high school Physics and Electronics teacher was a highly skilled skilled Electrical Engineer with a Masters and extensive military and civil reactor  experience. Yet he still taught us that electrons flow from negative to positive outside the battery.
Even back In 1984 and 1988 I. knew "flow" was probably the wrong choice of words, but right or wrong on the theory, Veritasium at least tried to set the record straight for fun and profit.

Now mind you, as someone who frequently finds himself informally teaching, I know you have to start with easy analogies sometimes, but the amount of stringed along bad simplifications in this world are legion.

I've yet to hear a really good explanation of how base current in a transistor works, it's only taken something like the Internet to make a good theory accessible to me, and I've had access to some of the best science libraries in a five state region.

I've had some real problems in the past using EE and ET and Physics models with Chemists and Chemical Engineers.

Approximations I've been taught  hold up well for my applications. However when you jump fields [pun intended] it may not go well when collaborating.

 Just try to explain Tan D  or Electret behavior to a Chem Eng.

At the University, some of the Chem Eng types have offices right next to EE Profs, but they might as well have been in different universes.   Conversation starts about Laplace and Maxwell and the strategic retreat begins.  Ok, call the Technician...(Me) which used to end in a trip to the now abolished science library for "easy" materials texts. We don't keep books anymore though,   Science Librarians are just too expensive. 

Just a rant, I've had people tell me nuclear and atomic bombs are two different things.

Steve









David Hess:

--- Quote from: LaserSteve on January 08, 2024, 04:47:06 pm ---Just a rant, I've had people tell me nuclear and atomic bombs are two different things.
--- End quote ---

Just refer to them all as "conversion weapons", which is short for "mass-energy conversion weapons".

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