Recent content by lowellite

So I know these equations 1/f = 1/p + 1/i m = -i/p f: focal length p: object distance from mirror i: image distance from mirror m: magnification Let's say that I have an object in front of a concave or convex mirror with the same |f|. p is much larger than the radius of curvature...

Homework Statement An ingenious bricklayer builds a device for shooting bricks up to the top of the wall where he is working. He places a brick on a vertical compressed spring with force constant k=450N/m and negligible mass. When the spring is released, the brick is propelled upward. If the...

Thanks for so patiently explaining this to me. It's a great help, but sometimes I feel like the more information I get, the more questions I have! ;) So if fissile materials tend to blow themselves apart if they undergo fission for too long, how are nuclear bombs engineered to release all of...

Thanks so much for the explanation, everyone. So basically, the water is slowing down the fast neutrons released by the radioactive decay of uranium-235, thus exponentially increasing the speed of the fission reaction? (And beryllium can also supply neutrons when hit by alpha particles...

Do you know where these neutrons come from? I thought the neutrons come from the fission reaction of the primary, but dropping the warhead in water wouldn't set off the primary, right?

(I apologize in advance if this is in the wrong section of the forum) I found an article online describing the safety concerns of the W88 thermonuclear warhead. Apparently, water can turn the uranium-235 coating of the W88's secondary into a "runaway boiling hot water reactor" (not sure what...