For cancer radiation treatments delivered from a device with an isotope source (e.g., cobalt or radium), see Radiation therapy. A cobalt bomb, a type of salted bomb, is a nuclear weapon originally proposed by physicist Leó Szilárd, who suggested that it would be capable of destroying all life on Earth. The weapon's tamper would be made of ordinary cobalt metal, which would be transmuted into the radioactive isotope 60Co, producing deadly fallout.
Mechanism
The cobalt tamper would be transmuted into the isotope 60Co upon initiation and bombardment by neutron radiation. 60Co decays into an excited 60Ni by beta decay. The excited 60Ni then transitions to a ground state 60Ni, releasing gamma radiation.
Other isotopes could also be used for salted bombs, including gold-197, tantalum-181, and zinc-64.[1]
Weapon of global destruction
- See also: Doomsday device
The fallout would have a half-life of 5.27 years and would be intensely radioactive, a combination which caused Szilárd to suggest that such bombs could wipe out all life on the planet. Critics of the cobalt bomb concept point out that the mass needed would still be unreasonably large: 1 gram of 60Co per square kilometer of Earth's surface is 510 tonnes, and fallout does not reach all areas in equal proportions and dispersement (winds, etc.) . The sheer size and cost of such a weapon makes it unlikely to be built, although it is technically possible because there is no maximum size limit for a thermonuclear bomb.
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