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Thursday, March 22, 2018

A New Day,


Yesterday we looked back.,Today we look forward.

 In these five simple characters is an entire universe of information. But, we are going to focus on the enormous destructive implications. Energy equals Mass times the Speed of Light squared. Light travels at 186,000 miles a second, square that number and you have something indescribable to a layperson.  Working backward it becomes obvious that it doesn’t take much mass to create a lot of energy.

Burning a 5 pound piece of wood would yield, if you could capture the energy given off as heat, light and the gasses in the smoke, five pounds. A simple chemical conversion, fuel turned to energy, E=m. Even a chemical explosion is governed by the same laws. In the explosion the energy is just released very quickly. A chemical reaction can only yield as much energy as the mass involved. It is the release of the atom that changes everything


There is a tremendous amount of energy holding atoms together. The building blocks of the  universe. Breaking the nuclei apart or forcing them together (fission, or fusion) releases energies on an enormous scale, the power of time and space. 

At the center of a nuclear explosion temperatures can reach 100,000,000° Celsius, the same as the center of the sun.  Within seven-tenths of one millisecond from the detonation, the fireball from a 1-megaton weapon is about 440 feet across, and this increases to 5,700 feet in 10 seconds.

Shock waves travel out, smashing buildings, trees, crushing people, turning the area into finely shredded kindling. Soon the entire area is burning. Dust from the blast combine with smoke and soot from the resulting fires and rise into the atmosphere. 

Since the infrastructure has been destroyed, most of the population killed and those unfortunate survivors are being painfully consumed by radiation poisoning there is no hope of containing the fires. So, they grow, and consume everything in their path.

Before long the clouds block the sun’s rays and the temperature begins to Plummet. Computer models suggest it could remain below freezing for over six months. Fortunately, we have yet to test the accuracy of the predictions.  But, even if they prove to be less drastic, and we can only hope we don't find out, the radiation and prolonged cold and dark would interfere with photosynthesis killing much of the food crop.

Before long many of the plants and animals would die. Following closely are the already weakened survivors who are battling exposure, at least some radiation poisoning and starvation. And those are the “lucky” ones who weren’t close enough to be killed instantly. There will be no survivors, not really. Even if a person lasted through that would they still be human in any way except shape?

When you consider the end does it really matter who fired first, or who was “right?” Probably not. But, those in charge still assume they have the right to make that decision. I'm not so sure. So, I am starting a movement, #MakeAmericaDeadAgain. Join me, together we can make a difference. You don't have to be a Grateful Dead fan to join, but it would give us something pleasant to talk about when the apocalypse gets too heavy.

Our quote for today comes from Mohamed ElBaradei

"I think one country with nuclear weapons is one country too many."





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