Stuart Woodward reviewed Dark Sun by Richard Rhodes
Review of 'Dark Sun' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
I’d pretty much recommend anything that Richard Rhodes writes. Interesting account of the political reasons that the Hydrogen bomb was constructed and the technical difficulty that had to be overcome.
Scary stuff as some bomb tests were much better than expected. Even the stuff uses to construct the bomb becomes part of the reaction at such high temperatures and pressures which can adversely or boost the reaction.
As an aside, the one thing I would have liked to hear more about are the safeguards for triggering the bomb. Once assembled there is basically and on/off switch to trigger it. How do you design a switch that can never fail? Even the Apollo program had problems with this in that a solder balls became loose and shorted a switch to the on position. Cosmic Rays or radiation can randomly flip a bit in a microchip. It makes you wonder what are …
I’d pretty much recommend anything that Richard Rhodes writes. Interesting account of the political reasons that the Hydrogen bomb was constructed and the technical difficulty that had to be overcome.
Scary stuff as some bomb tests were much better than expected. Even the stuff uses to construct the bomb becomes part of the reaction at such high temperatures and pressures which can adversely or boost the reaction.
As an aside, the one thing I would have liked to hear more about are the safeguards for triggering the bomb. Once assembled there is basically and on/off switch to trigger it. How do you design a switch that can never fail? Even the Apollo program had problems with this in that a solder balls became loose and shorted a switch to the on position. Cosmic Rays or radiation can randomly flip a bit in a microchip. It makes you wonder what are the safety margins for accidental detonation are.
