Re: EMP weapons?!?

["Robert J. Hansen" <rjhansen@xxxxxxxx>]

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> Actually, virtually ALL explosions create
> Electromagnetic Radiation.  That is what the heat and

Jeff, the destruction of the nitrogen bond in high explosives
liberates a tremendous amount of kinetic energy.  Enough that it
superheats the materials around it and excites them into emitting
photons.

The explosion itself does not emit any photons.

It's possible that some compounds have the right electron orbitals to
allow ultraviolet and/or infrared light to be emitted, but that's it.
 If you want gamma, you need a nuclear reaction.  Period.  Nothing
else has the energy to do it.  Not a chemical reaction.

There's an entire field of chemistry devoted to this, called
"spectroscopy".  I'll ask my GF, who's a chem grad student, what the
physical limitations of this are.

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