Page 10 - Lesson 12.xps

Module - V Nuclear Warfare

Warfare and
Its Types which may be permanent, interruptive or transient. For example it may cause: -
• Breakdown of insulation in cables and components
• Tripping of relays and circuit breakers

• Burnout of components within equipment
• Corruption or clearance of electronic data stores
Note • Explosive failure of susceptible equipment, which may cause human injury

as a secondary effect.

12.5.3 The Fireball and the Radioactive Cloud

(i) The Fireball: A nuclear explosion leads to the liberation of a large amount of
energy in a very small period of time within a limited quantity of matter. Because
of the great heat produced by the nuclear explosion, all the materials are converted
into the gaseous form. These gases cause tremendous pressure and lead to the
formation of an extremely hot and highly luminous (incandescent) spherical mass
of air and gaseous weapon residue, which is called the fireball. The surface
brightness decreases with time, but after about a millisecond, the fireball from a
1-MT nuclear weapon, would appear to an observer, 80 kilometers away, to
be many times brighter than the sun at noon.
(ii) The Radioactive Cloud: While the fireball is still luminous, the temperature in
the interior is so high that all the weapon materials are in the form of vapour. As
the fireball increases in size and cools, the vapour condenses to form a cloud,
also called the mushroom cloud, consisting of solid particles of the weapon
debris, as well as many small drops of water derived from the air sucked into
the rising fireball.

Fig 12.5 – Mushroom Source : wikipedia.com

34
34
MILITARY STUDIES