ALLOW ME TO UNLEASH MY INNER DORK

I'm about to go on a science rant, so turn back now if you so desire.

As you may or may not know...one of the things i do for fun is physics. I've spent serious $ on books and sundry on said subject, not to mention i have a not so minor crush on Stephen Hawking.

I'm especially fond of astrophysics, which combines two things i absolutely adore: astronomy and physics. Crazy delicious.

This evening while doing some reading(Isaac Asimov's understanding physics), I was struck anew @ how awesome our universe is. Take the Sun for example. Our Sun, though only a midsized star, is a freakin monster. Its a source of thousands unimaginable sustained thermonuclear reactions that we can only begin to understand. Think about this: Every second the sun converts about 564 million tons of hydrogen into 560 million tons of helium.

These reactions are caused by fusion, which is when atomic particles combine and form a heavier nucleus. This in itself is awe inspiring because these atomic particles have to overcome their natural tendency to repel each other.

Ever try to push two magnets together with their same poles facing each other? Its impossible. Well in fusion this IS whats happening. When nuclei are heated to extraordinary temperatures, such as that in the sun, they overcome this electromagnetic repulsion and fuse together due to strong nuclear force.

Now if you recall (or scroll up two paragraphs) I stated that every second the sun converts about 564 MILLION TONS of hydrogen into 560 MILLION tons of helium.

"But lex," you ask. "Where did the other 4 million tons go?"

That other 4 million tons was converted into pure energy. The sunlight that gives us our warm glow(unless you're marilyn manson), fades the paint on our homes, provides our soil with nutrients, and heats our atmosphere is the result of the enormous release of energy through fusion. However, only a fraction of this 4 million tons of solar energy reaches earth. And yet, that is enough to sustain life here on earth.

If you don't find that freaking awesome no offense, but you're probably a total moron.

Scientists would love to harness this ability to have controlled sustainable fusion. It would be wonderful as far as energy is concerned. Especially in the production of electricity. Its relatively "clean" and there is not much radioactive leftovers. So-to-speak.However, as of this moment this amazing ability to overcome nuclei repellancy(i think i just made that word up) has only been witnessed in the uncontrolled release of energy of a thermonuclear weapon, known colloquially as the hydrogen or H-bomb. The power of this bomb, and the resultant temperature is what allows for this fusion.

The H-Bomb uses this property of strong nuclear force through fusion as a way of releasing the tremendous amount of energy in atomic nuclei. Unfortunately, this way of releasing energy has no practical use.(unless you want to vaporize your neighbor)

Which brings me to another topic.

Have you ever witnessed the awesome destructive power of a bomb? Not first hand of course. But have you seen footage? Well i did some googling and...for all of their destructive and harmful nature, the actual physics that goes into them is...astounding. Man. (i know, im sure the federalis are watching me as a type)

Trinity Test:

A few weeks before the actual drops of the bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Tested in New Mexico. Oppenheimer was @ the helm. Watching it gave me chills. Equal parts of horror and fascination.






Castle Bravo:

The first test of a thermonuclear device. Trinity was Nuclear(or, fission based) Castle Bravo was fusion based(such as what occurs on the sun) Detonated March 1st on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands(where we ladies get our name for our bathing suits) 1000x more powerful than the Atom Bomb, and its yield was 15 Megatons. A surprise to scientists who were expecting something in the 8 megaton range. The nuclear fallout has made these islands uninhabitable to this day.


Ivy Mike:

Another Thermonuclear device tested about two years prior to Castle Bravo(they couldn't get enough could they? The cold war was NO joke):

And then...

Tsar Bomba.

Tsar Bomba is/was the most powerful weapon EVER detonated, with a yield of 50 Megatons. The resulting mushroom cloud was approx SEVEN times higher than mount everest. Its richter magnitude was about a five.



Man.

Its amazing what something as innocuous a the mass equivalence formula can result in. Terrible. Its a wonder we don't all have cancer.

But yeah, as interesting as all of this physics/science stuff is, I'm a little tired. I guess i should go to bed huh? I mean being that its around midnight and all. Besides I'm sure none of yall read all - if any - of what i wrote, but whatever. I enjoyed it. If i appear to be a total nerd well thats alright by me. Because i am. And now i'll get some shut eye.