fallout
The precipitation to the earth of radioactive particles from the smoke and vapor
(
produced by burst of an atomic weapon when
‘
the violence of the disturbance has subsided,
After the detonation of a weapon, metallic
oxide particles in the atomic cloud collide
with particles of dirt (or with droplets of
water as well as materia] from the bottom.)
up in the rising column.. These particles
or droplets become contaminated with radioactivity amd they gradually fall back to
earth, sometimes after having been carried
considerable distances downwind,
film badge
Radioactivity sensitive device worn to
indicate amount of radiation received.
fireball
The luminous sphere of hot gases which form
a few millionths of a second after detonation of an atomic weapon and immediately
starts expanding and cooling, -In a nominal
atomic bomb explosion, the ball of fire
reaches a maximum radius of about 450 feet,
firing system
1. For an implosion weapon, that portion
of the weapon which, upon signal from the
arming system, transforms and stores electrical
energy, and, upon signal from the fuzing
system, discharges this stored electrical
energy to detonate the implosion system,
This firing system will normally consist of
the firing set, firing switch, load coils,
load plates, detonator cables, other
connecting cables, and structure,
2. For gun-assembly weapons, that portion
of the weapon which receives a signal to
ignite a pyrotechnic powder train, which in
turn ignites the propellant,
fission
Although fission of heavy nuclei can be
brought about in a number of ways, there is
only one that is of importance for the
practical release of nuclear energy:
This
is the fission initiated by neutrons. The
reason is that the fission process is itself
accompanied by the liberation of neutrons, so
that a chain reaction with the continuous
release of energy is possible, Three of the
isotopes which can be used in a fission chain
process are Uranium-233, Uranium-235, and
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