The US, The UN and Iraq

(Gelisgesti told me a few years ago how to tell men from women posters, and I thought I had it down pretty well. )

Of the two types of nukes we dropped on Japan, one was considered so simple that it did not require a test detonation. The other one required a test out at Trinity.

I think it was the Fat Man bomb that required testing and the Little Boy did not. As I recall one bomb was detonated shotgun style by shooting the two halves of uranium together to achieve critical mass. That was simple.

The other method of achieving critical mass was by surrounding the two halves of the uranium sphere with shaped explosive charges, all of which had to detonate within nanoseconds of each other to detonate the weapon. That was considered tricky enough to require testing.

Tantor

This thread has been closed because its enormous length has made it extremely slow-loading. The successor thread is here: http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=129842#129842

Of course this thread will not be deleted or moved and you can copy from it just like you would any other thread. Sorry for the interruption.