On Sat, 27 Dec 2003 14:01:18 GMT, Matthew S. Whiting wrote:
Laurence Doering wrote:
On Wed, 24 Dec 2003 20:48:36 -0500, JJ wrote:

It would be pretty much impossible to "obliterate 200 square miles" with the
weapons carried on one Minuteman. Let's assume you want at least 5 psi
overpressure (the minimum needed to cause heavy damage to an American-style
wood frame house.) The blast from a 375 kiloton airburst at optimum altitude
(assuming flat terrain in the target area) will give you 5 psi at a maximum
range of about 3.2 miles, covering an area of only about 32 square miles.
Multiply by three, and you're still more than 100 square miles short of your
goal.

Where do you get your 5 psi figure from? Sounds way high to me. A
30x40' house with even the short side getting hit with a 5 psi
differential would sustain a force of 172,800 lbs (30'x8'x144"/sq.
ftx5psi) or 86.4 tons. I'd be surprised most stud frame houses would
withstand this, and this is ignoring the load on the roof.

My source is the 1962 edition of _The Effects of Nuclear Weapons_, edited
by Samuel Glasstone.

Chapter 5 describes the effects of a 1953 weapons test on several replicas
of houses constructed at the Nevada Test Site. 5 psi overpressure was enough
to collapse a 2-story wood frame house and severely damage a single-story
"rambler"-style wood frame house. 1.7 psi overpressure left the buildings
standing, but blew out doors and windows and caused moderate damage to roofs.

A later 1955 test subjected a wood frame house that had been reinforced
(based on the results of the 1953 test) to 4 psi overpressure. The
structure remained standing with the roof partially collapsed.

I assumed 5 psi as a ballpark figure for the minimum overpressure needed to
substantially damage or destroy almost everything within a certain radius of
ground zero. The 5 psi radius is also close to the maximum radius where
you'd have a reasonable chance of killing or injuring people or livestock
in the open.

You're not going to find many wood frame buildings in the mountains of
Pakistan, though, and you need overpressures more in the neighborhood of
15-25 psi to severely damage or destroy masonry or concrete buildings.
Sure, you could break windows and scare people over a larger area, but the
original poster wanted to "obliterate" 200 square miles with a single
missile.


ljd