Heavy water density.

[Kermit]

Out of curiosity, what's the density of deuterium oxide (heavy water)? Or even tritium oxide (radioactive heavy water)?

[Ophiolite]

Heavy water - 1.1079 SG at standard temperature and pressure.

Source:http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Heavy-water

[Kermit]

Ah, okay, thanks.

 

Now, if I was to drink heavy water and nothing but that, what would happen to me?

[mmalluck]

I don't think drinking radioactive water would be good for you, so steer clear of the tritium oxide.

 

The deterium oxide would just make you a little heavier and more prone to nuclear fusion.

[Kermit]

Oh no.

 

(explodes, destroying everything in a 15 mile radius)

 

... there goes the neighborhood.

[DV8 2XL]

Too much heavy water Is toxic, but you do have to soak up quite a bit of it.

[insane_alien]

why is heavy water toxic? does it hamber chemical processes of something?

[jdurg]

Deuterium performs very slightly differently than protium (normal hydrogen) does in chemical reactions. It's not anything really marked, but it is noticeable. If there's enough deuterium in your body to replace a large proportion of the normal hydrogen atoms, it can alter the chemistry enough to make you pretty sick as it slows down chemical processes essential to life. Again though, you need to take in a large amount of the stuff.

[Ophiolite]

why is heavy water toxic? does it hamber chemical processes of something?

If you had bothered to read the link I provided you would have found (under the sub-heading Health) the following:

"Heavy water is not considered toxic, but some metabolic reactions require normal ("light") water, so consumption of exclusively heavy water can cause illness. In particular, the substitution of hydrogen by deuterium interferes with stereo-specific organic reactions."

I've googled for you, I've extracted text for you. Do you want me to do your thinking for you?

[jowrose]

how exactly is heavy water used in the creation of atomic bombs? i was watching some national geographic "untold stories of WWII" and it was talking about this factory in norway (i think) that the germans captured and used to create heavy water. Apparently it was vital to the allies that it be destroyed, and it took 3 attemps through conventional bombing and commandos on skis. Interesting story though. But what exactly are its uses?

[DV8 2XL]

It is used as a moderator in a type of breeder reactor used to transmute uranium into weapons grade isotopes or into isotopes of plutonium

[YT2095]

isn`t it also used as a jacket around a normal A bomb to make it into a H bomb, or something like that?

[DV8 2XL]

The Teller-Ulam configuration makes use of lithium deuteride enriched in the Li-6 isotope. Perhaps that's what you are thinking of.

[YT2095]

yeah, I rem the Lithium type, there`s also a type that uses the Tritium gas too, IIRC, that can be loaded according to the yeild required minutes before deployment, also used in Neutron bombs.

[DV8 2XL]

Right, process of "fine tuning" is called Dial-A-Yield !

[YT2095]

LOL, you ARE kidding right?

[jdurg]

isn`t it also used as a jacket around a normal A bomb to make it into a H bomb, or something like that?

 

You've got it backwards there. Successful fusion requires such high temperatures and pressures that we simply cannot achieve those criteria without the use of another bomb. In order for successful fusion to occur in a bomb, nuclear fission has to take place first. The fission provides enough heat and pressure to fuse together the lighter isotopes and create a fusion reaction. So every 'hydrogen bomb' out there is triggered by the detonation of a fission bomb which then sets off the fusion process. So in actuality, the fusion fuel is surrounded by the fission device. When the fission bomb detonates, it creates the conditions needed for the fusion to take place.

[jowrose]

ah, ok. thanks for the clarification, albeit maybe i am more confused now.

[YT2095]

http://www.shomepower.com/dict/h/hydrogen_bomb.htm

http://www.peacemagazine.org/archive/v03n2p14.htm

http://www.nti.org/e_research/profiles/India/Nuclear/2103_2460.html

http://mt.sopris.net/mpc/military/mike.html

 

here, have a read, some of these may clear stuff up a little

[jowrose]

wow, those are some nice sites. the peacemagazine article was the perfect resource for this thread. thanks for the info.

[DV8 2XL]

YT2095 - No I wasn't kidding, that's what they call it.

[YT2095]

well that`s just plain Sick

 

"Oh look, we`ve invented a new Genocide Bomb, we were thinking of calling it the Death-O-Matic MKI, what ya recon?"

[jowrose]

sounds like the old wile E. coyote cartoons.

[jdurg]

That second link seems very 'not right' to me. If tritium was that damned lethal and that expensive, there's no way in hell you'd see any of those trasers out there which have a tritium based 'core' which gives off the electrons needed by the phosphorescent coating. With the lethality and cost that is explained in that article, it would make those keychains incredibly deadly and outrageously expensive. It's proposterous to think that tritium is that dangerous as once it has decayed it becomes helium. So the only radiation it gives off is from it's own decay. The problem would be in the form of tritium oxides as it can then be better absorbed by our bodies. Still, I think that second link really exaggerates things.

[DV8 2XL]

I agree, it's the usual FUD from the anti-nuke crowd.