njzy@vax5.cit.cornell.edu (T. Joseph Lazio, Cornell University) (01/23/91)
In article <1991Jan22.152955.4632@d.cs.okstate.edu>, rjs@d.cs.okstate.edu (Roland Stolfa) writes: > If both of the two previous questions can be answered "yes", then consider > the following Ultimate Weapon. > > A. Take two areas and collect in each one half of a black hole's mass. > These two areas should be far enough appart that they will not be > pulling each other together, yet. > > B. Once the mass has been achieved, start both pieces in motion > towards an "enemy", while also moving the pieces towards each > other. > > C. Arrange it so that the two pieces collide and form our black > hole before reaching the "enemy", hopefully far enough away > from "us" to not cause us any problems. If it needs some energy, > make the collision point some star that already has a good > chunk of the mass, as well as the energy that might be needed. > > D. Once the black hole has been formed, it could travel along > (Newtons's law ???), and quite simply suck the entire solar > system of the "enemy" to oblivion. While we are speaking of Ultimate Weapons...Stan Woosley once published a paper on Type I supernovae (which I cannot currently find). In it, he spends about a paragraph detailing how a degenerate carbon white dwarf could be turned into a massive thermonuclear bomb. He concludes that it is not currently feasible, in part, because it is not clear how to place a detenator near the center of the white dwarf to start the explosion. -- T. Joseph Lazio Cornell University (607) 255-6420 lazio@astrosun.tn.cornell.edu lazio@pulsar.tn.cornell.edu