Ok, here is a theory... nK did not, I repeat, did NOT detonate a nuke this past weekend. That the explosion was used with conventional bombs to simulate the effects of a nuke.

They would do this inorder to see what the world reaction would be. The close in strategy would reveal our hand and by the time that we figure out that it was in fact not a nuke, everyone testing and developing nukes would see what the world reaction would be.

These guys are testing the waters to see world reaction.

Any takers on this theory?

i heard somewhere that the explosion had the power of one of the nuke bombs dropped on japan at end of ww2 , your theory is possible but they would of had to use a hell of alot of conventional explosives to get that sort of power ,if i heard was correct of course ......

Nuclear weapons generally have power equivalent to hundreds, if not thousands, of large conventional shells, I trust that NK can't move several entire convoys of bombs without the U.S./Allies finding out. It problably is for real, though one can only wonder at the NK government's idiocy.

Only Russia thinks it was on the 5-15 kilo ton (kt) range (Hiroshima was 12.5kt), France is at the lowest with .5kt and the rest are saying around 1kt....

So it is possible that it could have been conventional weapons. However a nuclear detonation gives out a distinct seismic wave that would be easily detected by South Korea, so basically we have to take their word for it.

Now that could spin your theory even more...What if NK was trying to test the waters and SK is all like you know what expletive these guys and in turn encourages the world to do their dirty work...

But we do know that NK has plenty of plutonium to make a neutron bomb (releases more radiation), so it is a tough guess but I dont think SK would BS...

We are hypothetically speaking, right? In that case, I think its possible that they might have done it to see what we(world) would do, but I also think that North Korea might have set off conventional weapons to warn South Korea. Now, South Korea should have easily detected the difference in explosions, but whos to know wether or not it was conventional bombs or not...Basically, we just have to see what happens...

I always thought that because of the amount of mass needed to form a chain reaction a nuclear explosion could never be smaller than 3kt's.

I think its a possibility but I have no doubts about their ability to build and use dirty bombs so I dont really think it would lessen the threat.

Originally Posted by Damien435

I always thought that because of the amount of mass needed to form a chain reaction a nuclear explosion could never be smaller than 3kt's.

I believe you are confusing the neutron multiplication factor with equivalent kilotons of TNT... i.e. when k= 2 or 3 it has a reached a highly supercritical mass...

No, what I am saying is that unless you have a certain amount of nuclear material nothing will happen. Nuclear weapons don't work like conventional explosives, you can take 1 gram of gunpowder and get a loud pop out of it, with Plutonium for example I believe the critical mass required to get a chain reaction and explosion is 10 kilograms. But don't quote me on that.

Well no matter if it was fake or not. It still made the UN and all their pants. So they really didnt accomplish much but put more strain on a country already consumed by poverty.