assuming the ICBM is a nuclear warhead…. Doesn’t the whole process behind a nuclear warhead involve an explosion that propels the nuclear “fuel” to start a chain reaction? i.e. exploding a warhead will essentially be the same as the explosion that causes the isotope to undergo fission?
ig the same can be said about conventional bombs as well but nuclear is more confusing.
In: Chemistry
Imagine you have an egg yolk on a plate surrounded by marbles, and your goal is to squish the entire yolk with all the marbles at the exact same time, in perfect sync, causing the yolk to geyser upwards in a perfect teardrop shape.
So you setup a system to propel all of those marbles with equal force directly into the yolk at exactly the same time. If one of those marbles hits the yolk even a little bit before the others, the yolk will still break but you won’t get that perfect splash.
Causing a nuclear detonation is kinda like that…If all the marbles in the warhead don’t hit in just the right way, the radioactive material will still get scattered but no boom. Destroying a warhead with another explosion all but guarantees to disrupt the timing.
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