09-19-2004, 06:32 PM
Quote:TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF A NUCLEAR AIRBLAST
Immediately after the explosion, nuclear constituents are ejected with tremendous velocities. Through collision and other processes, most of these particles are stopped within a very short distance and their energy is eventually transferred to the surrounding air. This will, at some distance from the point of explosion, manifest itself as a sharp increase in air pressure called static overpressure accompanied by high winds caused by dynamic overpressure.
For a given weapon yield and level of blast overpressure, there is always a particular height of burst that maximises the area covered by the overpressure. With increasing heights of burst, the overpressure that reaches the ground decreases rapidly. As the height of the burst is lowered under the optimisation height for some overpressure, the area covered by that overpressure decreases somewhat.
In the immediate vicinity of the ground zero, however, blast will become increasingly stronger as the air burst gradually turns into a surface burst. Much of the air shock will be transformed to a ground shock and eventually a crater will be formed. To form a crater, melting and vaporisation of the ground due to the fireball are, however, essential in addition to blast. Severe damage to heavily fortified structures such as missile silos is, in general, believed to require surface bursts.
Air blast can cause direct or indirect damages. Direct damage is, for instance, the collapse of walls and roofs due to the fact that one side of these surfaces experiences a tremendous increase in the static overpressure whereas the other does not. Direct damage to objects such as trees, telephone poles and metal sheet constructions is mainly caused by the strong winds.
Indirect damage, caused by collapsing buildings, glass fragments and other debris flying in the air or high winds, is a much more likely mechanism for producing blast injuries and fatalities.
-Info from Here
Talk about fighting fire with fire. :P