@pt100 said:

One of the ironies about Oppenheimer is that he eventually did acknowledge that the U.S. needed to develop a hydrogen bomb; so he eventually agreed w/Teller about this. But his change of mind was not enough to prevent his losing his security clearance.

In 1963 President John F. Kennedy awarded (and Lyndon B. Johnson presented) Oppenheimer with the Enrico Fermi Award as a gesture of political rehabilitation. I always thought that was a nice gesture toward a great scientist who had been badly mistreated. Also, as a result of his negative testimony about Oppenheimer, Edward Teller was pretty much ostracized by the scientific community. So there was at least some measure of justice.

@pt100 said:

@Thebridge said:

What was the composition of the 1/3 of a dime mass, if not uranium?

It was uranium, but only a miniscule fraction of the starting amount of uranium (equivalent in mass to about 1/3 of a U.S. dime) was actually converted from matter into energy. The bomb contained 64 kg (141 lb) of enriched uranium, of which less than a kilogram underwent nuclear fission. And of that small fraction that underwent fission, only a tiny percentage actually got converted from mass to energy. Nearly all the amount of starting uranium ended up dispersed as dust after its neutrons had become unbound. It is the rapid unbinding of the neutrons from the nuclei--not the converting of mass to energy--that caused the huge explosive force, heat and radiation.

Facts: 64 Kg of Uranium-235 used in bomb

6.3 x 10¹³ Joules released (estimated) during explosion

Equation: E = mc²

Energy Efficiency: 6.3 x 10¹³ = m x (300,000,000)² [where m = 7 x 10^-4]

Only .1% of starting Uranium-235 is turned to energy; thus (7 x 10^-4) / (.001) = .7 Kg

Conclusion: “Little Boy” contained 64 Kg of Uranium-235, but only .7 Kg of the starting mass was involved in the explosion. Furthermore, no more than .1% of the .7 Kg is converted to energy during nuclear fission. As a result, 7 x 10^-4 Kg of Uranium-235 was changed into 6.3 x 10¹³ Joules.

Truly an astonishing example of the almost unbelievable amount of energy that can result from the transformation of an amount of uranium equivalent to about 1/3 the mass of a U.S. dime.

Reference source

@Thebridge said:

Wow, thanks so much for that PT! Now this is something that could stand as its own drama. I haven't seen it included in any of the melo-dramatic movies or tv about fusion and fission, not really.

FYI, for anyone who is interested and gets the Decades Channel, on 7/31/17 they're showing the one-hour documentary Dr. Teller's Very Large Bomb. Check local listings for times in your locality.

@Moon_Doggie said:

@Thebridge said:

Wow, thanks so much for that PT! Now this is something that could stand as its own drama. I haven't seen it included in any of the melo-dramatic movies or tv about fusion and fission, not really.

FYI, for anyone who is interested and gets the Decades Channel, on 7/31/17 they're showing the one-hour documentary Dr. Teller's Very Large Bomb. Check local listings for times in your locality.

I'll look for it on Decades, they're a CBS station iirc. It's still too early to see it on a schedule. Youtube only has bits and pieces of it, but I'd like to see it. Thanks for the heads-up.

@Thebridge said:

@Moon_Doggie said: FYI, for anyone who is interested and gets the Decades Channel, on 7/31/17 they're showing the one-hour documentary Dr. Teller's Very Large Bomb. Check local listings for times in your locality.

I'll look for it on Decades, they're a CBS station iirc. It's still too early to see it on a schedule. Youtube only has bits and pieces of it, but I'd like to see it. Thanks for the heads-up.

Yes, thanks for the info re: Dr. Teller's Very Large Bomb. I just watched it and it's a really good documentary. It clearly explains the science behind thermonuclear bombs vs. fission bombs and also provides a lot of interesting, behind-the-scenes anecdotes re: the scientists and their activities. I highly recommend it.

PBS' NOVA current episode: Inside Einstein's Mind examines how he developed general relativity theory. It's quite Intreresting.

@Thebridge said:

@Moon_Doggie said:

@Thebridge said:

Wow, thanks so much for that PT! Now this is something that could stand as its own drama. I haven't seen it included in any of the melo-dramatic movies or tv about fusion and fission, not really.

FYI, for anyone who is interested and gets the Decades Channel, on 7/31/17 they're showing the one-hour documentary Dr. Teller's Very Large Bomb. Check local listings for times in your locality.

I'll look for it on Decades, they're a CBS station iirc. It's still too early to see it on a schedule. Youtube only has bits and pieces of it, but I'd like to see it. Thanks for the heads-up.

FYI, the character Dr. Strangelove, played by Peter Sellers in the film of the same name, was modeled satirically on Edward Teller.