[ExI] Anti-deterrence weapons

[John K Clark]

"Stathis Papaioannou" <stathisp at gmail.com>

> Is it possible to use explosives to compress metals to greater than
> normal density? I thought for that you would need something like the
> pressure in the atmosphere of a gas giant.

If you're clever in the way you use chemical explosives you can achieve
pressures comparable to those deep within Jupiter, if only for a brief
instant; it's enough to compress Uranium to more than 3 times its normal
density. And that's just with chemicals; modern weapons use an inner core
of U235 and a outer layer of Pu239 so the fission reaction starts in the 
outer layer first and thus compresses the inner Uranium far more than
chemical explosives alone could do.

By the way you can also compress metal to greater than normal density,
and do so long enough to study it, by using a diamond anvil.

  John K Clark