Sun in a Bottle Read online

  Lawrence, Ernest

  Lawrence Livermore National Laboratoryn

  cold fusion and

  laser fusion at

  magnetic fusion at

  National Ignition Facility at

  leadn

  Lewis, Nathan

  Li, Tanhui

  Libby, Willardn

  light:

  color of

  converting sound into

  generating

  Lilienthal, Davidn

  Limited Test Ban Treaty

  lithium

  Lopez de Bertodano, Martin

  Los Alamos National Laboratory

  Fuchs at

  Halite/Centurion experiments at

  laser fusion projects at

  Manhattan Project at

  pinch program at

  Los Angeles Times

  Lyne, Andrew

  MacArthur, Douglas

  McCarthy, Joseph

  Mach, Ernstn

  McMahon, Brien

  Maddox, John

  magnetic fields

  magnetic fusion

  budgets for

  cleanliness of

  ignition and sustained burn in

  international collaboration in

  pinch machines, see pinch machines

  Stellarator

  tokamaks, see tokamaks

  magnetic mirror

  magnetohydrodynamics

  Mallove, Eugene

  Manhattan Project n

  Manley, John

  Mao Tse-tung

  Mark, Carsonn

  Marx, Karl

  Mascheroni, Leo

  Maxwell, James Clerk

  Mendeleev, Dmitri

  mercury

  Meyerhof, Walter

  Miller, Brad

  Milton, John

  momentum, conservation ofn

  Monte Carlo methodn

  moonn

  Moran, Mike

  Moss, William

  Mossadegh, Mohammedn

  muon-catalyzed fusion

  muons

  Naranjo, Brian

  NASAn

  National Ignition Facility (NIF)

  National Nuclear Security Administration

  Nature

  bubble fusion and

  cold fusion and

  laser fusion and

  ZETA and

  neon

  neutron activation

  neutrons

  bubble fusion and

  cold fusion and

  damage caused by

  discovery of

  false

  in fission

  in fusionn

  in laser fusion

  in pinch machines

  in Putterman’s device

  radioactivity caused by

  neutrons (continued)

  in Scylla

  in ZETA

  New England Journal of Medicine

  New Republic

  New Scientist

  Newton, Isaac

  New York Timesn n

  nickel

  NIF (National Ignition Facility)

  nitrogen

  Nixon, Richard M.

  Nova

  Nuckolls, John

  Nuclear Engineering and Design

  nuclear fallout

  nuclear fission, see fission

  nuclear fusion, see fusion

  nuclear power, peaceful uses of

  Program No.

  Project Plowshare n

  nuclear reactors

  nuclear weapons

  aging of

  Dyson on

  moratoriums on

  National Ignition Facility and

  Reliable Replacement Warhead

  Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator n

  stockpile stewardship program and

  see also fission bomb; fusion bomb

  Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)

  bubble fusion and

  Observer

  Odyssey, The (Homer)

  oil

  oil crisis

  Olson, Thiago

  OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries)

  Oppenheimer, J. Robert n

  background of

  Communist sympathies of

  General Advisory Committee chaired by

  hearing on

  odd behavior exhibited by

  Teller as enemy of

  Oppenheimer, Kitty

  Osbourne, Ian

  oxygen

  palladium

  Palmer, E. Paul

  Panama Canal

  Paneth, Fritz

  Paradise Lost (Milton)

  Park, Robert

  particle accelerators

  Pauling, Linus

  PCAST (President’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology)

  Perhapsatron

  Perón, Juan

  Peters, Kurt

  Peterson, Chase

  photons

  Physical Review E

  pyroelectric fusionn n

  pinch machines

  Columbus

  density of plasma in

  kink instability in

  makeup of plasma in

  Perhapsatron

  sausage instability in

  Scylla

  ZETA

  Pitzer, Kenneth

  Planck, Max

  planet, discovery of

  plasmas

  lasers and

  see also laser fusion; magnetic fusion; pinch machines

  Platt, Charles

  plutoniumn

  polywater

  Ponomarev, Leonid

  Pons, Stanley

  President’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST)

  Princeton University

  Program No.

  Project Chariot

  Project Plowshare n

  Project Sherwood

  proton-proton chain

  protons strong force and

  pulsars

  Purdue University

  Putterman, Seth

  fusion device of

  Rabi, Isidor

  radiation

  radioactivity fallout

  radium

  radon

  Rayburn, Sam

  Rayleigh-Taylor instability

  Reagan, Ronaldn

  Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW)

  Religio Chemici (Wilson)

  Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

  Richter, Ronald

  Richter: The Opera

  Riedinger, Lee

  Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator n

  Roentgen, William

  Roosevelt, Franklin Delano

  Rose, Basil

  Rossi, Hugo

  Rusk, Dean

  Russia:

  International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor and

  see also Soviet Union

  Rutherford, Ernest

  Sakharov, Andrein n

  lasers and

  sloika design of

  Teller and

  tokamak designed by

  Salamon, Michael

  Saltmarsh, Michael

  Sandia Natural Laboratories

  sausage instability

  science

  Science

  Science-Based Stockpile Stewardship program

  science journalism, embargo system in

  Scientific American

  Schwarzschild, Martin

  Schweitzer, Albert

  Schwinger, Julian

  Scylla

  Serber, Robertn

  Shapira, Dan

  Shiva

  Siegel, Keeve M.

  silicon

  sloika bomb

  sonoluminescence

  South Korea

  Soviet Union

  atomic weapons of

  fusion projects in n

  International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor and

  in Korean Warn

  Limited Test Ban Treaty with

  nuclear weapons moratorium in<
br />
  Program No.in

  Sputnik launched by

  Star Wars program and n

  ZETA and

  space programn

  Spitzer, Lyman

  tokamak and

  stability:

  atoms’ desire for

  see also instabilities

  stars

  equilibrium in

  fusion in

  pulsars

  supernovas

  see also sun

  Star Wars programn

  Stellarator

  stimulated emissions

  stockpile stewardship

  Strauss, Lewis

  strong force

  strontium-

  Suez Canal

  sulfur

  sun

  age of

  energy of

  fusion in

  Sununu, John

  superbomb, see fusion bomb

  supernovas

  surface-enhanced Raman scattering

  Suslick, Ken

  tabletop fusion

  bubble

  Ditmire device

  Farnsworth device

  Olson device

  Putterman device

  Taleyarkhan, Rusi:

  bubble fusion work of

  investigation of

  variable-speed bullet invention of

  Tamm, Igorn

  Tassn

  Tatlock, Jean

  Taylor, Ted

  television

  Teller, Edward

  Alarm Clock design of

  as anti-Communist

  background of

  cold fusion and

  egocentrism of

  Limited Test Ban Treaty and

  nuclear weapons moratorium and

  Oppenheimer as enemy of

  optimism of

  paranoia of

  and peaceful uses of nuclear weapons

  radioactive fallout as viewed by n

  Sakharov and

  Star Wars program and n

  Teller instability

  TFTR (Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor)

  thermodynamics, laws of

  thermotron

  Thirring, Hans

  Thomson, J. J.

  Thomson, William, Lord Kelvin

  thorium

  Timen

  tokamaks

  ignition and sustained burn in

  ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor)

  JET (Joint European Torus)

  JT-

  TFTR (Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor)

  tritiumn n n

  bubble fusion and

  National Ignition Facility and

  tritium-deuterium reactions

  Truman, Harry S.

  Tsoukalas, Lefteri

  Tuck, James

  Ulam, Françoise

  Ulam, Stanislaw

  Ulam-Teller devices n

  United Nations (UN)

  Atomic Energy Commission (UNAEC)

  Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy

  universal solvents

  uranium nn

  uranium-

  Valone, Thomas

  Von Neumann, John

  Wall Street Journal

  Washington Post

  What’s New

  Wheeler, John Archibald

  “Will to Believe, The” (James)

  Wilson, George

  Wired

  wishful thinking

  World War

  x-rays

  Xu, Yiban

  ZETA (Zero-Energy Thermonuclear Assembly)

  1 Apparently, Soviet translators erred when they received word of Fermi’s experiment. Soviet scientists were led to believe that the nuclear pile was in a “pumpkin field” instead of a “squash court.”

  2 In the interest of secrecy, Manhattan Project scientists seldom referred to these compounds by their real name. Uranium-235 was referred to by the code names “magnesium” or “25”; plutonium-239 was “copper” or “49.”

  3 Teller’s obsessive hatred of Communists and single-minded desire to build fusion weapons reportedly led Enrico Fermi to tell him, “In my acquaintance, you are the only monomaniac with several manias.”

  4 Teller was so ridiculously optimistic that fellow physicists measured enthusiasm in “Tellers” just as they would measure mass in kilograms or time in seconds.

  5 The Los Alamos physicist Robert Serber later wrote, “On Edward Teller’s blackboard at Los Alamos I once saw a list of weapons—ideas for weapons—with their abilities and properties displayed. For the last one on the list, the largest, the method of delivery was listed as ‘Backyard.’ Since that particular design would probably kill everyone on Earth, there was no use carting it elsewhere.”

  6 That didn’t end the speculation. As General Groves later recounted, “I had become a bit annoyed with Fermi the evening before [the first atomic bomb test], when he suddenly offered to take wagers from his fellow scientists on whether or not the bomb would ignite the atmosphere, and if so, whether it would merely destroy New Mexico or destroy the world.”

  7 Teller limped because of an accident in his youth. At the age of twenty, he jumped off a tram and nearly lost his right foot.

  8 This was, in part, because Russian military intelligence had penetrated the Manhattan Project. Klaus Fuchs, a physicist who was involved at the highest level of theoretical work on the atomic and hydrogen bombs, was a spy.

  9 They were using a technique that became known as the Monte Carlo method; the dice were for generating random numbers that allowed them to get a ballpark solution to a problem much more quickly than an exact calculation would permit.

  10 The world came very close indeed. After the Soviets and Chinese massed a fresh set of troops on the Korean border in March 1951, the Joint Chiefs of Staff ordered that atomic bombs be used if the Communist troops launched a major new offensive. The bombs were deployed. Truman even signed an order authorizing their use but, luckily, he never sent it.

  11 Teller, as often was the case, remembered the situation differently from how his peers did: he says he came up with a solution himself. According to Carson Mark, a weapons designer, “Ulam felt that he invented the new approach to the hydrogen bomb. Teller didn’t wish to recognize that. He couldn’t bring himself to recognize it. He’s taken occasion, almost every occasion he could, not every one, to deny that Ulam contributed anything.”

  12 It’s not entirely clear why Oppenheimer and others who had expressed such deep moral qualms about the hydrogen bomb in 1949 reversed their position so dramatically in 1951. Oppenheimer said that the idea was so “technically sweet” that the United States had to go ahead and try it and then, later, argue about what to do with it.

  13 Oppenheimer’s history was troublesome, especially an incident in 1943, in which, ironically, he alerted authorities to a possible security risk. Oppenheimer told a military officer that a certain person was worth keeping an eye on (and he was), but he lied about the details of how he knew this (through a friend who was a member of the Communist Party). Oppenheimer, when confronted with the lie, admitted to it in front of the panel: “Isn’t it a fair statement today, Dr. Oppenheimer, that according to your testimony now you told not one lie to Colonel Pash, but a whole fabrication and tissue of lies?” asked the AEC attorney. “Right,” answered Oppenheimer.

  14 In 1910, the famed physicist Ernst Mach wrote, “If belief in the reality of atoms is so crucial, then I renounce the physical way of thinking, I will not be a professional physicist, and I hand back my scientific reputation.”

  15 In truth, the analogy is terribly flawed, and electrons don’t really “orbit” a nucleus. To explain the behavior of electrons in an atom, you need to get into quantum theory, but this level of subtlety isn’t necessary to understand fusion.

  16 Technically, these pieces are helium-4 nuclei: two protons and two neutrons all bound together in a tight bundle.

  17 Technically, a third particle known as an antineutrino is als
o created.

  18 The fusion furnace accounts for the abundance of light elements. But if fusion can’t fuse nuclei to get atoms heavier than iron, where do we get gold and lead and uranium from? It turns out that they are created in the very final moments of a star’s life. As the star explodes, the explosion is so hot and so violent that heavy nuclei are colliding with protons, neutrons, and other particles with great force. Sometimes, the particles stick, making the nucleus bigger. This process absorbs energy rather than releasing it—it’s like rolling the ball up the shallow side of the hill—but it happens because the explosion is so energetic. It is from the very last moments of a supernova that we get all the elements heavier than those in the iron group.

  19 A fusion reaction that isn’t properly compressed becomes a big, expensive dud. In weaponeers’ terminology, the bomb “fizzles.” Livermore’s first nuclear tests fizzled, including its first hydrogen bomb test, Castle Koon.

  20 While fusion hawks like Teller and Strauss led the push to turn weaponry into something to benefit mankind, even the scientists on the other side of the hydrogen bomb divide—those who opposed the development of the Super—pushed to turn nuclear knowledge into a boon for humanity. “I had a hand in formulating and popularizing that hope of peaceful potentials,” wrote the former AEC chairman (and Oppenheimer ally) David Lilienthal. “The basic cause, I think was a conviction, and one that I shared fully, and tried to inculcate in others, that somehow or other the discovery that had produced so terrible a weapon simply had to have an important peaceful use.”

  21 Taylor had less peaceful uses in mind, too. The neutrons generated by an exploding fusion bomb buried under the ice could generate oodles of tritium; such a bomb exploded over a blanket of uranium could manufacture all the plutonium that the defense industry could possibly need.

  22 He would not be the last, nor would Castle Bravo be the only fusion “oops.” When the Soviets detonated their first Ulam-Teller-type device in 1955, a temperature inversion in the atmosphere reflected the shockwave back to the ground, causing a tremendous amount of damage. A Russian soldier died when his trench collapsed, and in a nearby settlement a two-year-old girl, who had been playing with blocks, was killed when the shockwave smashed the bomb shelter she was in.

  23 Despite the bad press, some scientists involved with the project were glib. A month after the accident they dubbed a draft plan to return the evacuated islanders to their home Project Hardy, as in Thomas Hardy, who wrote The Return of the Native.