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Re: (meteorobs) Planetary Impacts etc.



From:  rigel_ori@hotmail.com>


The original letter clearly cnbe broken down into two parts.  Let us take 
them one at a time.  First, a nuclear detonation resembles an impact event, 
as far as the seismic record will show.  But with triangulation it is 
possible to determine the point of origin.  If the seismic event is shown to 
have originated in the old Soviet Union, a check would be made with 
satellite coverage to determine if the event was seismic in nature or if it 
were an impact, or a nuclear detonation.  That is one of reasons why so many 
seismic dtectors were placed around the world as a result of some of the 
nuclear treaties.

As to the second question,  if an impact occured at a distance, the nuclear 
devices have various protective circuits and switches and mechanical devices 
that would prevent them from detonating.  Now if the impact were to occur 
say within a few hundred feet of the nuclear devices, then whether they go 
off chemically, not nuclear, would depend upon the amount of energy that 
could be transferred from the seismic shock wave from the impact, to the 
devices.  If the impact occured at the same location of the devices, who 
would really care, because if there were enough energy evolved to form a 
crater, there probably wouldn't be any nuclear devices left.  Of course this 
is dependent upon the size of the crater.  It might be possible t, if the 
crater were small, that we might have a breach of the outer casings which 
might allow the escape of nuclear fissionable materials, in military 
parlance, a broken arrow.  If such an even were to occur, I would highly 
recommend for you not to stand around too long.



>From: aergo <aergo@earthlinkdot net>
>Reply-To: meteorobs@atmob.org
>To: meteorobs@atmob.org
>Subject: (meteorobs) Planetary Impacts etc.
>Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2001 09:14:56 -0500
>
>Received the question, below, this morning.
>I have replyed but, would appreciate someone
>else taking a shot at it - so that I can forward.
>Anyone ???
>
>Thanks,
>
>A.  ;-)
>
>You seem pretty informed about planetary impacts,
>etc..  I , for one,
>appreciate your posts.
>
>Could you tell us what effect, if any, would a heavy
>earth impact have on
>the stored nuclear weapons that so many countries
>have?  I've heard that
>severe ground shocks would be considered a nuclear
>attack and that will
>result in a world-wide launching.
>
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