China tests non-nuclear hydrogen bomb, science paper shows
China tests non-nuclear hydrogen bomb, science paper shows
www.scmp.com
China tests non-nuclear hydrogen bomb, science paper shows
27 comments
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oh good, between this and hypersonic suborbital kinetic bombardment, we're really starting to see some of the weapons ww3 will be fought with! what fun!
The hydrogen bomb can cause extended thermal damage because the white-hot fireball it produces – sufficient to melt aluminium alloys – lasts much longer than TNT’s fleeting 0.12-second flash, according to the paper.
the device uses a magnesium-based solid-state hydrogen storage material. This material – a silvery powder known as magnesium hydride – stores considerably more hydrogen than a pressurised tank. It was originally developed to bring the gas to off-grid areas, where it could power fuel cells for clean electricity and heat.
fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuckThe chain reaction begins when detonation shock waves fracture magnesium hydride into micron-scale particles, exposing fresh surfaces, according to the study. Thermal decomposition rapidly releases hydrogen gas, which mixes with ambient air. Upon reaching the lower explosive limit, the mixture ignites, triggering exothermic combustion. This liberated heat further propagates magnesium hydride decomposition, creating a self-sustaining loop until fuel exhaustion – a synergistic cascading of mechanical fracturing, hydrogen release, and thermal feedback, according to the paper.
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the bad part about living in south america is that you're in here. the good part is that i dunno i think people will just forget to nuke us.
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i think people will just forget to nuke us.
The Posadas gambit.
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imagine this tech coupled with something like oreshnik for delivery
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that's very much what i'm imagining, yes, thank you, i appreciate your input as always ysgfwhsss
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ysgfwhsss
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literal russian doll missile
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lol pretty much
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it's not much worse than usual explosives
somewhere around better ethylene oxide or some shit, at the worst.it's all journalism over-hyping (with hydrogen bomb naming), there are myriads of explosives which are just too expensive to use (either due to corrosiveness, instability on decade scales, difficulty in industrial handling etc)
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it's not much worse than usual explosives
firebombs and oreshnik aren't much worse than usual explosives
it's all journalism over-hyping (with hydrogen bomb naming)
that's what i was expecting at first.
Until recently, magnesium hydride could only be produced in laboratories at the pace of a few grams per day. This is because binding hydrogen with magnesium requires high temperatures and pressure. Accidental exposure to the air during the manufacturing process can lead to deadly explosions. Earlier this year, China launched a magnesium hydride plant in the northwestern province of Shaanxi that can produce a staggering 150 tonnes of the material per year. Developed by the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, the plant has achieved low production costs using a “one-pot synthesis” method, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
if this last part is true, then they've overcome the industrial handling hurdle and can produce it at scale. i dunno if this one is just over-hyping.
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it was produced at that scale cause it has (had?) fuck all uses tbh, aluminium hydride is kinda samey but has very chemically friendly partners for use in synthesis, so is produced
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so you're saying it will be relatively simple for other countries to do the same thing?
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if it's not overhyping usefulness and scale, i suspect so, they do direct synthesis under pressure seems like, so not very exotic, just wildly expensive.
i think their diamond production is much more poggers, cause it's harder to do and in the west diamond lobby do be existing
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I know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV won't be
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I dunno about you, but I'm resting pretty comfy with the knowledge China has these; as I see it the only downside is that chances are, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Yemen, and even the Palestinians and whoever else in the global south might desire them, does not also have them.
By all means, if the west truly cannot accept coexistence even with the promise of MAD hanging over their heads, and if they truly push things to WW3, then their slate (of "civilization," if unparalleled brutality and greed can be called that) should be wiped clean if you ask me. Such is deterrence, but frankly as someone living in the west it may as well also be considered a mercy, over leaving the survivors at the mercy (or complete lack thereof) of an unchecked western capitalist hegemony.
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absolutely my biggest concern here is that the west is able to copy this technology. but while on the one hand i completely agree with you, on the other hand i'm also not looking forward to this getting dropped nearby when the ruling class of my country inevitably makes the decisions that capital dictates they must.
here's the thing. this lowers the bar. non-nuclear weapons that can achieve similar effects to nuclear weapons are going to get used (as oreshnik has already been used). as @plinky@hexbear.net says, these aren't much worse than conventional explosives, so why not use them? it's not mutually assured destruction with these weapons, not in the global civilization ending sense, so we're back into the realm of tactical ballistic exchanges being a weekly or monthly occurrence.
i really don't like where all of this is headed.
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27 comments