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To: zonder who wrote (294050)8/31/2004 6:34:13 AM
From: Elroy Jetson  Read Replies (1) of 436258
 
Accurate timers have everything to do with atomic bombs.

You face two practical supply problems in trying to build a nuclear weapon.

1.) Obtaining the nuclear material;

2.) Obtaining very precise timers to detonate the conventional explosives to create an accurately directed implosion. These Klystron modulators, or the equivalent, are registered munitions and are arguably more tightly controlled than fissionable material - which seems to be available from many porly secured sources.

Atomic clocks in cell phones could easily be used to provide the highly accurate timing needed to create an implosion for creating a compact nuclear weapon as well as provide highly accurate guidance for GPS weapons like cruise missiles.

While a widely available, cheap, atomic clock the size of a rice grain can be used to produce interesting consumer products, it also raises significant security concerns on many fronts. Just as the inaccurate timers in GSM phones were used to coordinate the train bombings in Madrid, highly accurate timing devices can be used for worse.
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