----- Original Message ----- From: "Howard Brazee" <howard at brazee.net> To: <dragaera at dragaera.info> Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 12:34 PM Subject: Re: Defender always wins? (Was: Re: on contradictions and s > On Fri, 11 Feb 2005 11:56:26 -0700, Jeff G. <Log0n5150 at hotmail.com> wrote: > > > Your splitting hairs at this point, the difference between an atomic > > weapon > > and a nuclear weapons is only of interest to physicists, the end result > > is the same. > > My bachelor's was in physics. Could you enlighten me on this difference? > It is, as you doubtless realize, based on the terminology used. Atomic weapons is the term used to refer to the first fission weapons used, the implosion type known as the Fat Man, and the "gun" type known as the Little Boy. "Nuclear" is the term commonly used to refer to the more powerful fusion weapons used by the US, Russia, the UK and France. India, South Africa, Pakistan, Israel and possibly China use fission devices, as the science involved in creating an efficient fusion device is simple in theory, but difficult in practice without experimentation. The various types of fusion devices are much more complex. I could go on in greater detail, but as I said before, it is of little interest to the layperson. Just as with the thread on politics, the science of high energy weapons has little to do with Dragearea. Jeff G.