[AdamNF]

$1:

That's the thing, ships are now scanned before they enter a major harbor, especially New York Harbor I would imagine. A ship comiing in with a bomb on board would very likely be sunk or boarded quite quickly.

They tested this on 60 minutes.

A reporter took depleted uranium (depleted uranium shows up on scanners as the same thing as enriched uranium) through 7 countries (I think 7) and then mailed it to his house the USA, it was shipped by Boat and arrived at his HOUSE!! It was in a brief case the whole time. The scanners do work but they have to almost be touching the material for it to pick up anything, and the port authority only inspect like 20% of all cargo that comes in anyways.

[AdamNF]

$1:

That's the thing, ships are now scanned before they enter a major harbor, especially New York Harbor I would imagine. A ship comiing in with a bomb on board would very likely be sunk or boarded quite quickly.

They tested this on 60 minutes.

A reporter took depleted uranium (depleted uranium shows up on scanners as the same thing as enriched uranium) through 7 countries (I think 7) and then mailed it to his house the USA, it was shipped by Boat and arrived at his HOUSE!! It was in a brief case the whole time. The scanners do work but they have to almost be touching the material for it to pick up anything, and the port authority only inspect like 20% of all cargo that comes in anyways.

[othello]

The key to being able to scan for radioactive material is in the type of material that it is. There are three types of radiation: alpha, beta and gamma. Alpha is the least able to penetrate objects. And uranium is an alpha-emitter. So, you put uranium in a suitcase and, so long as the outside of the case is nice and clean, you can't detect the uranium inside.

Now, depending on what type of bomb you want to build, the different components will emit different types of radiation.

[Johnnybgoodaaaaa]

othello othello:

The key to being able to scan for radioactive material is in the type of material that it is. There are three types of radiation: alpha, beta and gamma. Alpha is the least able to penetrate objects. And uranium is an alpha-emitter. So, you put uranium in a suitcase and, so long as the outside of the case is nice and clean, you can't detect the uranium inside.

Now, depending on what type of bomb you want to build, the different components will emit different types of radiation.

Hmm, maybe I'm wrong, but I thought that most things that emit radiation give off alpha particles, beta particles, and gamma rays. I thought that the Alpha particles are the ones which are positively charged and would be attracted to a negative plate, while the beta particles are the negatively charged ones which would be attracted to a postive plate, and the gamma rays are the ones which are electrically nuetral. I might be wrong, but if I remember science correctly, Ernest rutherford put a sample of pitchblend(uranium ore)which emitted all three types of rays....

[othello]

Johnnybgoodaaaaa Johnnybgoodaaaaa:

Hmm, maybe I'm wrong, but I thought that most things that emit radiation give off alpha particles, beta particles, and gamma rays. I thought that the Alpha particles are the ones which are positively charged and would be attracted to a negative plate, while the beta particles are the negatively charged ones which would be attracted to a postive plate, and the gamma rays are the ones which are electrically nuetral. I might be wrong, but if I remember science correctly, Ernest rutherford put a sample of pitchblend(uranium ore)which emitted all three types of rays....

Alpha particles are positively charged and beta particles are negatively charged. Gamma rays are an electromagnetic wave and have no charge. So you're right about all that.

However, they don't all occur together all the time. Different radioactive isotopes emit different radiation. Gamma is frequently seen in conjunction with either alpha or beta, but not always. And, I'll have to check, but I had thought depleted uranium (U-238) was a pure alpha emitter, while U-235 (the good stuff for atomic weapons) is some kind of combo emitter. Uranium ore is a mishmash of multiple different uranium isotopes, and so I would not be surprised if Rutherford did observe all three forms of radiation from one sample, but it would have been the result of a mix of the isotopes.

[Mukluk]

AdamNF AdamNF:

Missle defence doesnt work, never has.

Which doesn't preclude it from working in the future. You need vision to drive innovation and new technology, not defeatest attitudes and presumptions of failure.

m

[Rev_Blair]

Most physicists say it doesn't work. They are the ones who know about these things. For them it isn't a defeatist attitude, it's a problem that we presently lack the technology to solve. By all indications, developing that technology will be horrendously expensive and will most likely not be able to keep pace with methods, some very low-tech, of defeating it.

[karra]

$1:

Which doesn't preclude it from working in the future.

$1:

Most physicists say it doesn't work. They are the ones who know about these things.

$1:

Which doesn't preclude it from working in the future.

Having a comprehension difficulty?

Read the contents of the first box first - followed immediately by your response in the second box. Followed immediately by the first box a second time for simplification and further elucidation.

Got it? I knew you would.

[Rev_Blair]

Read my entire post Karra. I know anything more than one sentence long challenges your limited attention span, but give it a shot.

[Rosco]

Mukluk Mukluk:

AdamNF AdamNF:

Missle defence doesnt work, never has.

Which doesn't preclude it from working in the future. You need vision to drive innovation and new technology, not defeatest attitudes and presumptions of failure.

m

I don't see what is so technically difficult here, considering that in the mid 70s they had antiballistic missles that managed nosecone to nosecone direct hits on incoming ICBMs during testing. Of course those 1970s ABMs were to be nuclear armed and the newest system isn't supposed to contain explosives of any kind but 30 decades of technological progress must count for something?

[Rev_Blair]

Again, not according the majority of physicists around the planet. The whole thing is a political disaster too. It's started a new arms race. Just what we needed.

[Indelible]

ok so let's get back to how canada fits in.

1.the scientist dudes think it won't work.
2.bush wants to put them in canada.
(correct me if i'm wrong)

so i think there ought to be a vote nationally over this (like that will happen!) but if there was, my vote would be "hell no! not in my country!"

pry the ballot from my cold dead hands.

[Rev_Blair]

There is an opportunity to vote nationally on this. It's an issue and there is an election looming. Get a hold of your MP and the PMO and tell them that any Canadian participation in this program is unacceptable. Do the same with your local Reform/Alliance/Conservative candidate. Send the NDP and the Green Party congrats on their stand against it. Promise to vote accordingly, then do it.

[saturn_656]

But heres the problem, Canada opts out of BMD, the US will station the interceptors at its borders, and its quite possible an intercepted missile could be destroyed over Vancouver, Victoria, Edmonton? We would get showered with radioactive debris anyway. Secondly, American Integration will result in BMD operations most likely being tasked to NORAD, if Canada opts out our role in the defence of North America will further be marginalized, and we might as well as say to hell with the NORAD agreement, because there would be little role for us in it.

Now I'd like the whole BMD issue to disapear as much as the next guy, but the fact of the matter is that if we want to continue our contributing role in NORAD and safeguard our own cities from radioactive debris, we have to play ball. Either that or terminate NORAD, much to our detriment

[Indelible]

somehow your post seems reminiscent of the sentiment from the late 50's or early 60's.

when the avro arrow program's spending went thru the roof the bomarc missiles replaced it, and the justification for that is exactly what u posted.

unfortunately the bomarc missiles sucked ass and were replaced by thre voodoo airplane which also sucked ass comparfed to the arrow.

funny how history repeats itself eh?