chemoleo
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First nuclear weapon design
Here's the Penny report, released initially to the public domain due to the Public Records Act (UK), with a presumably very outdated design of a Pu
nuclear device.
http://file.sunshinepress.org:54445/penney-report.pdf
Must say, who knows if this contains truly useful information. I should think the authorities would introduce subtle falsities to prevent successful
implementations of the design, I mean they'd be foolish not to.
Unsurprisingly, public discussion of that material then generated second thoughts, and a very keen but clearly uninformed UK government official
attempts to censor material already in the public domain - check the email conversations in 'Notes' in the following link.
http://wikileaks.org/wiki/First_atomic_bomb_diagram
Wikileaks seems altogether an interesting site!
Never Stop to Begin, and Never Begin to Stop...
Tolerance is good. But not with the intolerant! (Wilhelm Busch)
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pantone159
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Interesting to see the detailed discussion of the initiator. I thought that was one of the most sensitive parts of the design.
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Magpie
lab constructor
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Chemoleo this is a very interesting report of the high level British meeting for deciding how to manufacture. It seems strange to me that so many
details had yet to be worked out. I would have guessed that they would instead have had posession of detailed drawings and procedures from the US.
Maybe they had a case of "not invented here" and wanted to come up with their own designs and procedures.
I also found the exchange of letters with Wiki to be very interesting. Especially the part about "this is urgent and we'll get right back to you, but
first we have to take Easter vacation." 
[Edited on 19-9-2008 by Magpie]
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franklyn
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That's a nice find but this was old news even when it was news.
It is not a blueprint really but rather a sketch, a preliminary outline
on what progress had been made, and a proposal on how to proceed
with reearch and further development.
LA-1 , the " Los Alamos Primer " as it came to be known, drafted
in 1943 and distributed to the war time allies, Britain and yes the
Russians also ( imagine that ) was the source for the subsequent
work done depicted in this Penny report.
Los Alamos Primer LA-1
Available from any of the following
http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/doe/lanl/docs1/00349710.pdf
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Los_Alamo...
http://www.cfo.doe.gov/me70/manhattan/publications/LANLSerbe...
It's even available in the Sci Mad Los Alamos library
http://www.sciencemadness.org/lanl1_a/lib-www/la-pubs/003497...
further historical archived documents
http://www.cfo.doe.gov/me70/manhattan/library.htm
The reason for continued censoring of information which is no longer
unknown, certainlty to physicists, is to reduce the number of credible
bomb threats when a design is given as proof of an existing device.
Sort of like sending a false fire alarm, this plus a little plutonium just
for show, will distress governments and and make intelligence agencies
worry and wonder.
See
The Curve of Binding Energy - John Mcphee
and once dismissed as an alarmist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_B._Taylor
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chemoleo
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Very interesting, franklyn. Particularly this document (Los Alamos primer)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Los_Alamo...
Fascinating to see the calculations on how critical mass is calculated, and even the basis, need and identity of the tamper, as well as the equations
for that...
Had no idea this is all publicly available, but then, the derivations don't seem tooo hard, so probably any physicist should be able to work some of
it out.
Never Stop to Begin, and Never Begin to Stop...
Tolerance is good. But not with the intolerant! (Wilhelm Busch)
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franklyn
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Some background on the development of implosion bombs
http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/sciences/chemistry/nucle...
Related thread
http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=11569
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IrC
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Quote: Originally posted by chemoleo  | Here's the Penny report, released initially to the public domain due to the Public Records Act (UK), with a presumably very outdated design of a Pu
nuclear device.
http://file.sunshinepress.org:54445/penney-report.pdf
Must say, who knows if this contains truly useful information. I should think the authorities would introduce subtle falsities to prevent successful
implementations of the design, I mean they'd be foolish not to.
Unsurprisingly, public discussion of that material then generated second thoughts, and a very keen but clearly uninformed UK government official
attempts to censor material already in the public domain - check the email conversations in 'Notes' in the following link.
http://wikileaks.org/wiki/First_atomic_bomb_diagram
Wikileaks seems altogether an interesting site! |
Never seen this thread before, I would like to read the PDF but the link is broken.
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" Richard Feynman
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mr.crow
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This post is from 2008, haha
The atomic bomb link doesn't work anymore  Now I am curious
Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble
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IrC
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I would be happy just to get the PDF here (not):
http://file.sunshinepress.org:54445/penney-report.pdf
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" Richard Feynman
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franklyn
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I checked if I have this to upload, I don't so looked it up
Google is your friend : "Penny Report" weapon
gets you
http://old.wikileaks.se/penney-report.pdf
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IrC
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Thanks, just was interested in what they did way back when. Did not search real hard, skipped links mentioning wiki leaks as first two were same err
404 or similar, so I missed it by ignoring "old" wiki leaks. Interesting read.
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" Richard Feynman
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peach
Bon Vivant
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These early nuclear secrets where traded with the US for the synthesis of VX nerve agent. The series was discovered by ICI (The chemical company who
own Delux) and VX was produced at the Porton Down millitary science park in Wiltshire.
The US stockpile was cancelled, loaded onto ships, and 124 tons of it sunk.
This process was called CHASE, "cut holes and sink'em".
Keep these events in mind when listening to today's politics.
[Edited on 14-1-2011 by peach]
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The WiZard is In
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Me the Analogue guy again
I recommend —
Chuck Hanson
U.S. Nuclear Weapons : The Secret History
Orion Books
New York 1988
And of course Richard Rhodes two books. (In my
opinion the first is the better of the two.)
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IrC
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The US stockpile was cancelled, loaded onto ships, and 124 tons of it sunk.
Think I'll stop eating fish.
[Edited on 1-15-2011 by IrC]
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" Richard Feynman
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chemoleo
Biochemicus Energeticus
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I guess the lesson here is:
Don't trust the eternity of the internet!
If you think something is worth saving - SAVE it - or it may disappear.
Laws change, 'freedom of speech' changes, governments change, politics change and, by consequence - censorship implementations change!
I for one would save anything that's interesting...our age of information freedom, while we all love it, may not last forever!
(no political rant intended)
Never Stop to Begin, and Never Begin to Stop...
Tolerance is good. But not with the intolerant! (Wilhelm Busch)
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IrC
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Every time I think of all the rich fat pigs making slaves burn the scrolls in the library of Alexandria to heat their baths a few thousand years ago I
get depressed.
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" Richard Feynman
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Polverone
Now celebrating 21 years of madness
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This is on Madhatter's FTP site in DjVu format. I don't know if it is floating around parts of the internet indexed by search engines.
PGP Key and corresponding e-mail address
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IrC
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Would be interesting to read but my old log in for Madhatter's FTP site does not work and he never answered my U2U about a new one a few weeks ago.
Had not been there in a long time.
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" Richard Feynman
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MadHatter
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Penney Report
Now in the PHYSICS section of the FTP. Enjoy !
Chemoleo, BTW, I agree with saving a copy. You never know when it's going to disappear.
As such, I regularly save anything I find, and if it's small enough, place it's contents in a post.
Great Call !
[Edited on 2011/1/20 by MadHatter]
From opening of NCIS New Orleans - It goes a BOOM ! BOOM ! BOOM ! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !
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