Into Unscientific

"Hg antimony oxide?"

Hearing the word is greater than speaking.

Wang Haoran was stunned, and after a few seconds he blurted out:

"Comrade Yu Min, are you talking about mercurochrome?"

Da Da nodded slightly:

"Yes, it's mercurochrome."

Wang Haoran suddenly frowned, with some doubts in his tone:

"Comrade Yu Min, although the information on the development of nuclear weapons in various countries is currently classified as top secret, everyone knows more or less about the materials - because the properties of many substances are clear."

"As far as I know, mercury antimony oxide is not a known neutron source material, right?"

Just as Wang Haoran said.

Today, there are only three countries that have hydrogen bomb technology, namely John Bull the Wooly Bear and Eagle the Eagle.

These three countries have set all information on the hydrogen bomb as top national secrets. Even the stuffed bear who has a good relationship with the rabbits has never leaked even a letter.

But on the other hand.

Although the rabbits cannot obtain this information, some contents can be deduced from the perspective of principles.

For example, the neutron scattering process, or the neutron source.

The neutron source is the ignition device of the atomic bomb. Its purpose is to maximize the energy release of the nuclear explosion. That is, to achieve the required algebra of the chain reaction.

If the nuclear material becomes subcritical due to thermal expansion before the required number of generations is reached, then the nuclear bomb becomes a stink bomb.

To complete the above steps, the selection of neutron source materials is actually very limited:

First of all, it must be radioactive, eject as many neutrons as possible at the same time, and the scattering cross section must be as large as possible. There are only a few that meet the conditions.

Theoretically, the most suitable neutron source for conventional nuclear bombs is polonium-beryllium source, where beryllium is beryllium-9 and polonium is polonium-210 synthesized in artificial reactors.

In addition, optical neutron sources can also be used in nuclear reactors as lower-intensity sub-neutron sources, such as californium-252 and so on.

As for the greater than mentioned mercury antimony oxide.

Wang Haoran can be sure that no country will produce this stuff as a neutron source material.

Perhaps because he felt that his verbal persuasion was relatively limited, Wang Haoran quickly picked up the pen and paper again and started calculating on the spot:

"The molecular formula of mercurochrome is Hg2O7Sb7, the molecular weight is 750.65, and the PSA is 113.63000."

"If it is used as a neutron source material, the theoretical mass defect released per unit is equal to 0.0032293amu, and its binding energy is equal to 2.923 MeV."

"Then if we consider the initial nuclides, the system energy ratio should be."

Anyone who has studied physics in college should know this.

The so-called binding energy of a solid refers to the energy required for its components to combine into it.

This energy is equal to the mass defect minus the energy or mass released when a bound system (whose potential energy is usually less than the sum of the potential energies of its components) is created, and which is what keeps the system together.

It involves van der Waals force, which is strictly speaking a category of electromagnetic force, but a correction term called electric dipole moment will be added to the calculation.

Then based on this framework, we can determine whether a substance is suitable as a fission or fusion material by calculating the system energy ratio.

For example, for a deuterium atom, the mass defect is equal to 0.0023884amu, and its binding energy is almost equal to 2.23 MeV, which means that much energy is required to split a deuterium atom.

The energy released during nuclear fusion or fission is the "fuel" - the difference between the binding energy of the initial nuclide and the binding energy of the fission or fusion products.

Actually.

This energy can also be calculated from the large mass difference between the fuel and the product, using previous measurements of the atomic masses of known nuclides, whereas similar nuclides always have the same mass.

This mass difference appears once the heat and radiation emitted are removed, and is necessary for measuring the (rest) mass of the (non-excited) nuclide involved in such calculations.

More than ten minutes later.

Wang Haoran put down his pen again, and his frown became more intense:

"The system energy ratio is 5.442. This ratio should not be able to release enough energy to trigger nuclear fusion - even nuclear fission is too choked."

Da Yu did not interrupt Wang Haoran's calculations from the beginning to the end. At this time, facing Wang Haoran's doubts, he simply smiled:

"Comrade Haoran, you are right. If it is just pure mercurochrome, it does lack in energy intensity."

"But what if we add some other substance, say cesium metal?"

Wang Haoran was suddenly startled:

"Metal cesium?"

Da Da nodded, carefully pulled out a few calculation papers from the documents in front of him, and handed them to Wang Haoran through Li Jue's assistant Zhou Cai:

"Comrade Haoran, as you can see, this is a report that the comrades from the heavy water reactor in the FS area of ​​the capital spent a week working on."

"The observation time of this report is as long as 11 days, and the relevant data are all derived from actual measurements. You will understand after reading it once."

Wang Haoran raised his eyebrows, took the report from Zhou Cai's hand, and read it immediately.

"Place antimony mercury oxide and cesium metal in a special container, apply high pressure and high radiation, the intensity is"

"After 39 hours, the energy ratio of the material system increased by 5.87%"

"After 77 hours, the energy ratio of the material system increased by 13.5%"

"After 143 hours, the material system energy ratio increased."

Every time Wang Haoran reads a sentence, his tone becomes more solemn.

By the end, he was even a little unsteady in holding the document, and the pages of the book made a rustling sound.

After watching everything from start to finish.

Wang Haoran just put down the document in his hand with a shocked expression and was completely silent.

When Yu Yu saw this, he didn't ask him what he thought. For Yu Yu, who was shy and reserved, he would not take the initiative to do such a slap in the face.

A long time passed.

Wang Haoran finally spoke:

"The data is correct. Judging from the report, specially treated mercury antimony oxide can indeed be used as a neutron source."

"But. But"

Wang Haoran hesitated for a long time, until his facial features were a little tangled, and then he couldn't help but ask:

"But Comrade Yu Min, how did you discover this idea?"

Wang Haoran's dilemma is not that he cannot afford to lose. As a comrade who is willing to dedicate himself, Wang Haoran is still very broad-minded in terms of consciousness and mind.

After confirming that mercury antimony oxide was indeed feasible as a miniature neutron source, he was not ashamed of himself for backing up the praise. On the contrary, his heart was filled with excitement at this time - because this represented The miniature neutron bomb is expected to be released!

But on the other hand.

He couldn't imagine how Yu Yu discovered this track.

This thing is very different from traditional nuclides.

To use an example from later generations, everyone is discussing which car has the word "Ao" in its name. Some people say Alto, some say Audi, and some say Ola.

As a result, someone suddenly said that Ultraman also met the requirements, and after a long discussion, everyone discovered that Ultraman can really be driven as a car - the flying speed of this thing is measured in Mach.

Looking at Wang Haoran with a troubled face, Yu Yu pointed at Xu Yun without any burden:

"Comrade Haoran, didn't I just say that these are all ideas proposed by consultant Xu Yun."

"So he is the biggest behind-the-scenes hero of the whole thing. I just made some simple calculations."

Xu Yun's mouth twitched a few times:

"."

Good guy, even your harmless-looking round head is so sinister.

The whole process is not what you said, is it?

After Zhu Guangya led the team and assigned the task of detonating two bombs together, the organization actually discussed the feasibility of detonating three bombs in private.

However, even the big leaders in the capital did not have much confidence in this at that time, so the so-called discussion process was not very formal. Everyone said whatever they thought of, which was a bit similar to the brainstorming of later generations.

One of the characteristics of brainstorming is that ideas can be wild and unrestrained. Whether it can be implemented is another matter.

Therefore, after Xu Yun realized that everyone was stuck, he casually came up with an idea:

Can mercury antimony oxide be used as a neutron source?

Mercury antimony oxide.

This thing is quite famous in the military fan circle, because there is a rumored weapon made of mercury antimony oxide.

This weapon is called

Mercury bomb.

Rumors about the mercury-red nuclear bomb appeared in the 1990s. It is said that it is a miniaturized tactical nuclear weapon and a nuclear fusion weapon that was lost after the Mao Xiong family was separated.

It uses antimony mercury oxide as the neutron source, which is greatly reduced in size compared to the neutron source used in general hydrogen bombs using atomic bombs.

In addition, thermonuclear fusion has no critical mass limit, making the entire nuclear bomb very small and light.

Generally, a small mercurochrome nuclear bomb may only have a fist, but its lethality can reach the order of 10,000 tons, which is many times more energy efficient than existing conventional nuclear bombs.

The core evidence to support this conjecture is that Lunev once said that Mao Xiong had lost many portable suitcase nuclear bombs before they separated. This kind of nuclear bomb weighs 55 kilograms. In terms of quality, it is still different from ordinary nuclear bombs. Relatively large.

Opponents say that mercurochrome nuclear bombs do not exist because the binding energy of antimony mercury oxide itself is not sufficient to support the completion of nuclear fusion.

In a sense.

The mercury-red nuclear bomb is equivalent to a more mysterious Yu Min configuration, and no one knows whether it exists or not.

The main difference between the two is that there is indeed a lot of evidence that the Rabbits' hydrogen bomb is different from the traditional T-U configuration. This was actually vaguely mentioned in the Rabbits' documentary "Codename 221", which means that the balance is more tilted [ There is one party.

As for mercury-red nuclear bombs, there are no examples to follow, and logically it is relatively close to non-existence.

In addition, since mercurochrome nuclear bombs are mentioned, let’s popularize the science or correct a few wrong rumors.

The first is about the origin of the mercury-red nuclear bomb. There is currently a theory that rumors of the mercury-red nuclear bomb started on December 30, 2014.

At that time, a villager in a certain place accidentally discovered a wooden box. When he opened it, he found six artillery shells inside, with information about the artillery shells written on it. The most eye-catching one was "Made by Wooly Bear" and "1967". Manufacturing”, and “mercurochrome”.

The last few shells were urgently transported away by local officials. Since then, there have been many news related to mercurochrome nuclear bombs in the world.

This statement seems to want to label the mercurochrome nuclear bomb as a rumor of domestic production, but in fact, a closer analysis will reveal that this rumor has too many flaws.

The first is that snake-oil-like ‘somewhere’. Since even the information about artillery shells can be transmitted so clearly, why are the place names so vague?

The second thing is the so-called stuffed bear manufacturing. If this thing was made by stuffed bear people, then it should be written about stuffed bears, right? ——Can a villager understand Mao Xiong?

What's more, foreign discussions about mercury-red nuclear bombs have appeared as early as the last century. You can even see the manufacturing method of mercury-red nuclear bombs on arXiv. Although that paper is most likely a foreign civil science paper, it was published in 1997. Year.

Another rumor about mercurochrome nuclear bombs comes from some marketing accounts. Most of these marketing accounts will pronounce a sentence using AI dubbing of Monkey King, Northeastern accent, or Guangxi accent:

[For many years, Professor Zimmer, director of the Science and Security Research Center at King's College London, has discussed the possibility of the existence of a "mercurochrome nuclear bomb" with nuclear weapons scientists from both East and West. They finally came to the conclusion that it was just a hoax. 】

This is actually a very outrageous rumor, even more unreliable than the mercury-red nuclear bomb itself.

What's so unreliable?

That is, King's College London does not have a science and security studies center at all. It only has a national security studies major, and the science and security of nuclear and biological weapons is one of the topics.

As can be seen from the official website of King's College London, this course has only had 14 professors since it began in the 1990s, and none of them is named Zimmer.

Even the name "Zimmer" does not conform to British naming conventions - it is a very standard German name.

There is also another rumor based on mercurochrome nuclear bombs, which is the so-called [mercurochrome scam]. This matter actually has little to do with mercurochrome nuclear bombs:

Most of the mercurochrome scams on the domestic Internet do not mean that mercury red nuclear bombs do not exist, but that people often say that they have spot mercury antimony oxide, and then they can conduct certain private transactions.

For example, on October 16, 2019, Chengdu issued a case report. A person named Li Mouxing was introduced to Hu Mouhua, and through Hu Mouhua's matchmaking, he found Zeng Mouchun and planned to purchase mercurochrome.

After the two parties agreed on a price of 12 million U.S. dollars per kilogram, Li Mouxing sent a remittance of 1 million yuan to the other party.

As a result, the other party disappeared after receiving the money, and Li Mouxing had no choice but to call the police.

In addition, those who are interested can also search for mercurochrome, where there are many people "selling goods".

Of course.

Just watch the excitement, don't be fooled - regardless of whether mercurochrome nuclear bombs exist or not, mercury antimony oxide is a highly controlled military material. There are only six countries in the world that have reported production processes. There are still very few countries with nuclear weapons.

In a sense, it is slightly less difficult to enrich uranium than to obtain antimony mercury oxide.

all in all.

The existence of mercury-red nuclear bombs is still inconclusive, and what is certain is that even if mercury-red nuclear bombs do exist, it cannot be as simple as a neutron source composed of a substance such as antimony mercury oxide.

However, the discussion at the base that day was a brainstorming session, so Xu Yun casually mentioned an idea.

This is a bit like everyone discussing the future trend of fighter jets. Someone said, "Can an aircraft carrier reach the sky?" 】

Then

A few days later, Yu sent the aircraft carrier that could reach the sky to Xu Yun.

Where is the reasoning behind this?

Note:

Do you have any recommendations for medicine for pharyngitis? My throat has been feeling a bit uncomfortable these past few days. To be precise, I have always had a problem with my tonsils.