For the first time in e-book format, here is the widely-acclaimed definitive standard reference book on nuclear weapons: the final, third edition of the authoritative Department of Defense text compiled by Samuel Glasstone and Philip Dolan. Every aspect of nuclear explosions is fully detailed - the immediate blast, thermal radiation, radioactivity and fallout, EMP, radio and radar effects, biological damage and the effect on people, plants, and animals, and much more. It includes the practical and scientific analysis of underground and atmospheric tests, as well as the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.
Contents include: CHAPTER 1 -General Principles of Nuclear Explosions * Characteristics of Nuclear Explosions * Scientific Basis of Nuclear Explosions * CHAPTER 2 - Descriptions of Nuclear Explosions * Description of Air and Surface Bursts * Description of High-Altitude Bursts * Description of Underwater Bursts * Description of Underground Bursts * Scientific Aspects of Nuclear Explosion Phenomena * CHAPTER 3 - Air Blast Phenomena in Air and Surface Bursts * Characteristics of the Blast Wave in Air * Reflection of Blast Wave at a Surface * Modification of Air Blast Phenomena * Technical Aspects of Blast Wave Phenomena * CHAPTER 4 - Air Blast Loading * Interaction of Blast Wave with Structures * Interaction of Objects with Air Blast * CHAPTER 5 - Structural Damage from Air Blast * Factors Affecting Response * Commercial and Administrative Structures * Industrial Structures * Residential Structures * Transportation * Utilities * Miscellaneous Targets * Analysis of Damage from Air Blast * CHAPTER 6 - Shock Effects of Surface and Subsurface Bursts * Characteristics of Surface and Shallow Underground Bursts * Deep Underground Bursts * Damage to Structures * Characteristics of Underwater Bursts * Technical Aspects of Surface and Underground Bursts * Technical Aspects of Deep Underground Bursts * Buried Structures * Damage from Ground Shock * Technical Aspects of Underwater Bursts * CHAPTER 7 - Thermal Radiation and Its Effects * Radiation from the Fireball * Thermal Radiation Effects * Incendiary Effects * Incendiary Effects in Japan * Technical Aspects of Thermal Radiation * Radiant Exposure-Distance Relationships * CHAPTER 8 - Initial Nuclear Radiation * Nature of Nuclear Radiations * Gamma Rays * Neutrons * Transient-Radiation Effects on Electronics (TREE) * Technical Aspects of Initial Nuclear Radiation * CHAPTER 9 - Residual Nuclear Radiation and Fallout * Sources of Residual Radiation * Radioactive Contamination from Nuclear Explosions * Fallout Distribution in Land Surface Bursts * Attenuation of Residual Nuclear Radiation * Delayed Fallout * Technical Aspects of Residual Nuclear Radiation * CHAPTER 10 - Radio and Radar Effects * Atmospheric Ionization Phenomena * Effects on Radio and Radar Signals * Technical Aspects of Radio and Radar Effects * CHAPTER 11 - Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) and its Effects * Origin and Nature of the EMP * EMP Damage and Protection * Theory of the EMP * CHAPTER 12 - Biological Effects * Blast Injuries * Burn Injuries * Nuclear Radiation Injury * Characteristics of Acute Whole-Body Radiation Injury * Combined Injuries * Late Effects of Ionizing Radiation * Effects of Early Fallout * Long-Term Hazard from Delayed Fallout * Genetic Effects of Nuclear Radiation * Pathology of Acute Radiation Injury * Blast-Related Effects * Effects on Farm Animals and Plants * Glossary.
The material is arranged in a manner that should permit the general reader to obtain a good understanding of the various topics without having to cope with the more technical details. Most chapters are thus in two parts: the first part is written at a fairly low technical level whereas the second treats some of the more technical and mathematical aspects. The presentation allows the reader to omit any or all of the latter sections without loss of continuity.
