/sci/ - Science & Math

[Anonymous No.10074958]

What kind of directed energy weapon could a 600 megawatt air breathing nuclear reactor power?

Asking for a friend.

[Anonymous No.10074961]

How about to start by learning English you fucking piece of shit.

[Anonymous No.10074981]

OP you got your terminology wrong, check Wikipedia. America's most practical research into directed energy weapons was primarily with nuclear weapons themselves. As in, instead of having a normal nuclear explosion the nuke would be shaped in such a way where it would direct it's energy in one specific direction. Ideally, this is coupled with adjustable yield fuzes to allow for a precision weapon which is useful in some circumstances (destroying deep underground equipment, destroying a satellite, destroying a ship docked in a harbor without destroying the adjacent town). It's theorized that reserach on them began in earnest in the 80s under SDI, and was continued (or at least kept secret) like Project MARAUDER supposedly is. America's recent nuclear weapons upgrade program probably has a few of them.

Anyway, in such a case there is no need for a nuclear reactor because the weapon is just a nuclear bomb.

[Anonymous No.10074983]

>>10074961
>would power
How about you learn to read English? Mouth breathing sub 100 iq dumb fuck.

[Anonymous No.10074995]

>>10074958
Depends on targets you'll want to destroy.

[Anonymous No.10074996]

>>10074981

Also in this case, measuring things in megawatts is insufficient. The bomb dropped on Hiroshima was equivalent to about 15,000 tons of TNT which is equivalent to 62 trillion watts or 62 thousand megawatts. For comparison the modern W-87 has about 475,000 tons of TNT which is about 2 quadrillion watts; and since the W-87 was designed to be deployed as a MIRV (exactly the type of vehicle best suited for orbital laser weaponry), there'd be deployed in groups of ten totaling a combined 4,750,000 tons of TNT and 20 quadrillion watts.

This is a huge amount of energy, for comparison the world only uses about 18 billion watts every year so the combined explosions would be about one thousand times larger than all of the electrical energy produced by mankind ever.

[Anonymous No.10075015]

>>10074996
We just measure energy like that in joules, because watt is something different.

[Anonymous No.10075033]

>>10075015

I know, but OP mentioned megawatts so I figured I'd use that.

[Anonymous No.10075039]

>>10075033
He also measured that he's thinking of constant output, which in that means in 3 hours he's using power of Hiroshima. If we take precision and energy required to blast one building etc, he's going to do more infrastructural damage to target than one W-87, because he's power is not just explosion.

Radiation is also unwanted side effect in almost any war. If you want your enemy to get "radiation" you're evil scum for not wanting him die fast and with dignity.

[Anonymous No.10075075]

I don't understand how people are missing the context given in the OP.

[Anonymous No.10075087]

>>10075075
YAL-1 was scrapped.

[Anonymous No.10075272]

>>10075087
lol money well wasted

[Anonymous No.10075281]

>>10075087
>>10075272

it just switched branches, the Navy took it over since they have floating power plants to play with