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I'm wondering if there are heuristic ways to derive how the peak density and temperature of nuclear explosions scale with the amount of fissile/fusible material.

Does it matter what the explosion energy is made of? what if the source of the energy is matter antimatter annihilation? how would that scale? any intuitive way to derive those as well?

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  • $\begingroup$ Certainly for nuclear explosives the design of the device matters--there are bomb designs that get larger (and generally cleaner) or smaller (and generally dirtier) explosions from similar amounts of fissile material. There are even rumors that the nuclear powers were investigating "dial-a-yield" devices where the explosive power could be set (over some range) in the field. $\endgroup$
    – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten
    Commented Sep 5, 2012 at 14:58
  • $\begingroup$ @dmckee, interesting. So maybe what is relevant for this question would be a maximum achievable bound on the yield? $\endgroup$
    – lurscher
    Commented Sep 5, 2012 at 16:41
  • $\begingroup$ The existence of dial-a-yield technology was declassified (item 8.c) in the 90s, but only some UK weapons were confirmed to have selectable yield. $\endgroup$
    – mmc
    Commented Sep 6, 2012 at 1:10
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    $\begingroup$ @mmc What a fascinating document. All the instances of "the mere fact" are interesting as are the degree to which many of these facts were widely known long before that time. On the other had I recall watching a episode of Mutual of Omaha'a Wild Kingdom on finding whales at sea one evening after which my father (a retired naval officer) said something like "I think they just covered an entire classified book called 'How to find a submarine'". $\endgroup$
    – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten
    Commented Sep 6, 2012 at 21:29

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