1321 High-Energy Experiment Part 2 (1/2)
Fifteen kilometres away
The steel-framed tower stood tall in the middle of the white plain of snow It looked as if it didn't belong to this tianized and dense structure, the icicles that hung from the beams and cables, and the layers upon layers of barbed rapped around it couldn't help but betray the beauty of the construction work
Hundreds of people bustled around the tower,the necessary preparations before the explosion
Because the entire apparatus was alone to the front lines, they were unable to asse in Neverwinter; instead, the parts were transported to the test site separately and then assembled onsite
Fortunately, it's structure was very si the design process, so the requireh
This was also where ”Glory of the Sun” differed froh they had already co up the site and the equipment, they still needed to spend one or two days to complete the final preparations
At thisat the top of the tower, giving out instructions for the assembly work
”Next is the No 3 core component, pay attention to the direction of the connector, be careful not to bump it!”
”Everybody followthe construction captain's call, a long, silver-white cylinder was slowly pushed into the apparatus
Only after the coh of relief
Inside the body of the round cylinder was the y source of the test explosion: two separate Uraniu When the tere co The , the critical mass Theoretically, an extremely intense fission reaction would not occur but it would rese like he described previously After all, the criticalnumber
Conditions such as shape, temperature, and pressure could all affect this number This was also why a nuclear weapon created fro the materials had basically no practical value in war For exa Uranium-235 seemed pretty stable, but in reality it was like a volcano on the brink of eruption Even a small buh using several small pieces of Uraniu the explosion It would indeed exceed the critical mass in the instant all the pieces coh temperatures produced from the fission reaction would cause the pieces of Uranium to rapidly expand and the distortion would reduce its density The intense explosion would push the originalthe reaction to stop in the uration not only needed the Uranium to reach a supercriticalas possible, in order to release the full power of the fission reaction
The gun configuration was called the 'gun' configuration because its principles were extreh the detonation of an explosive, a Uranium bullet would be violently smashed into another piece of Uranium Under immense pressures, the density of the Uranium piece would rapidly increase Even if the mass of the Uranium was a little lower, it would still be able to become supercritical
When the outer shell of the apparatus was connected, Anna personally inserted a can with a radioactive warning label into the designated tail port
That was the last essential component of this test explosion trial
There was a ot pricked by so for a half a beat
”Polonium Beryllium neutron source”
Just like its nae amount of free neutrons, which was the most direct way to lower the critical -pop can was a row of hollow spheres—every sphere was around the size of a table tennis ball and at their core was a poloniuold foil surrounded by a ring of honeycombed beryllium sheets
When the Uranium pieces collide, it would also smash the small can at the bottom of the barrel and all the hollow spheres would be compressed to be thinner than paper by the detonated explosive fuel gas After the gold foil breaks, the beryllium sheets would stick closely to the polonium balls and accept the alpha particles fro several times as many neutrons in turn
These neutrons participated in the Uranium-235 fission reaction and, if lucky, the system would be able to use up more materials before the reaction stopped and dramatically increase the power output of the nuclear weapon
Because the half-life of Poloniu a replaceable port was an essential design Moreover, leaving neutrons in the weapon for too long was extreerous, as after all, Polonium released neutrons just froold foil, the consequences would be unthinkable
After the Polonium Beryllium neutron source was loaded into the principle device, the apparatus would turn froulf every single person present at any h Roland knew that what he felt was just his ie in the number of neutrons in the environ still relaxed subconsciously
Only at this step had all the pre-detonation preparation been cohtly
”You can pass the coave a very slight nod of his head
No matter what the result, at least the ”Glory of the Sun” plan had come this far
And after they took this step, humankind would advance to a whole new frontier
He looked towards personal guard ”Pass in the six-hour countdown until ignition!”
[6:00]
”Wu—u—”
”Unit One has entered the firing stage, I repeat, Unit One has entered the firing stage All staff in the site, please is and leave the site as practiced in the drill! Attention, this is not a drill, the test explosion site will close down in one hour All personnel ion within an hour!”
Very quickly, evacuation announceather in the open area in front of the tower, do not leave a single person behind!”