Interesting stuff--but by density I meant the actual
materials themselves. For example, GPR can be used
(given favorable soil conditions) to detect certain
materials which lie beneath the surface of the ground.
This is acomplished via a return signal. It is also
possible using other technologies to "see through"
concrete walls. What I'm wondering is if there might
be some way to emit a signal the return of which will
tell you what element you're looking at--uranium or
lead, for example. Such a signal would need to pass
freely through containers made of wood or sheet metal.
Ideal would be a signal which was ONLY reflected by
the target element(s).
john marlow
--- Chuck Kuecker <ckuecker@mcs.net> wrote:
> At 03:26 PM 1/10/01 -0800, you wrote:
>
> >Well, actually, there's density--or atomic weight,
> if
> >you will. Now of course, lead shielding is quite
> >likely to screw this up--but the lead shielding
> would
> >have only some easily penetrable covering--wood,
> thin
> >metal, etc.--both of which can be "seen through"
> with
> >current technologies, though mind you I'm not
> saying
> >that can (or can't) be done by satellite. Simply
> >detecting lead shielding would be a tip-off,
> depending
> >upon context. So, just to throw another wild
> Q--might
> >it be possible to pick it up that way--detection of
> >heavy elements in unusual places? Some tech
> analogous
> >to GPR, perhaps? (Though yes, I realize GPR itself
> is
> >unsuitable.)
> >
> >john marlow
>
> Density is easily foxed - simply support the bomb,
> and it's shielding,
> inside a larger container such that the density of
> the whole thing is
> within expected ranges.
>
> We have whole-truck X-ray systems now - did you see
> the radiograph of the
> truck in Europe that had a secret compartment with
> smuggled illegal aliens
> in the back? It was in the papers here recently...
>
> Neutron activation can detect elements - that's one
> way of detecting nitro
> based explosives, from the nitrogen return signals
> (gamma?)
>
> Terahertz "radar" can see through dielectric
> materials, but would be
> useless against a steel container...
>
> The biggest problem is that for any present tech,
> there are ways of masking
> or swamping out the characteristics which shout
> "nuke".
>
> Chuck Kuecker
>
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Photos - Share your holiday photos online!
http://photos.yahoo.com/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 09:56:18 MDT