“In this first testing ground of the atomic bomb I have seen the most terrible and frightening desolation in four years of war. It makes a blitzed Pacific island seem like an Eden. The damage is far greater than photographs can show.” -Wilfred Burchett
The news has been aflame with reports that North Korea detonated a hydrogen bomb on January 6th, greatly expanding its nuclear capabilities with their fourth nuclear test and the potential to carry out a devastating strike against either South Korea or, if they’re more ambitious, the United States.
Image credit: TV screenshot of CNN’s The Situation Room, April 3, 2013. Go to hell, CNN.
The physics of what a nuclear explosion actually does and how that signal propagates through the air, oceans and ground, however, can tell us whether this was truly a nuclear detonation at all, and if so, whether it was fusion or fission. From all the data we’ve collected, this appears to be nothing new: just a run-of-the-mill fission bomb, with the rest being a sensationalized claim.
Image credit: Alex Hutko on Twitter, via https://twitter.com/alexanderhutko/status/684588344018206720/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw. Note that the Pn and Pg labels are backwards, which I suppose is a note that only geophysicists will care about.
Come find out how we determined it all on this week’s Ask Ethan !
from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1OGQAne
“In this first testing ground of the atomic bomb I have seen the most terrible and frightening desolation in four years of war. It makes a blitzed Pacific island seem like an Eden. The damage is far greater than photographs can show.” -Wilfred Burchett
The news has been aflame with reports that North Korea detonated a hydrogen bomb on January 6th, greatly expanding its nuclear capabilities with their fourth nuclear test and the potential to carry out a devastating strike against either South Korea or, if they’re more ambitious, the United States.
Image credit: TV screenshot of CNN’s The Situation Room, April 3, 2013. Go to hell, CNN.
The physics of what a nuclear explosion actually does and how that signal propagates through the air, oceans and ground, however, can tell us whether this was truly a nuclear detonation at all, and if so, whether it was fusion or fission. From all the data we’ve collected, this appears to be nothing new: just a run-of-the-mill fission bomb, with the rest being a sensationalized claim.
Image credit: Alex Hutko on Twitter, via https://twitter.com/alexanderhutko/status/684588344018206720/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw. Note that the Pn and Pg labels are backwards, which I suppose is a note that only geophysicists will care about.
Come find out how we determined it all on this week’s Ask Ethan !
from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1OGQAne
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