Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: frankw1900 who wrote (71867)	2/6/2003 3:42:34 PM
From: JohnM	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

A major argument the US is making is that Hussein is continuing with his atomic weapons program. Iraq kept ordering the tubes machined to ever greater tolerances. The argument, in terms of fact, will be utterly accepted by governments and intelligence agencies, and just about any ordinary citizen, like, say, a car mechanic or industrial worker. I would love to discuss this with you, Frank, but I'm only offering observations I saw on the Lehrer Hour who were all over the tubes on Wednesday and were clearly considered credible. And, that Powell himself said the arguments about their dual use capability were controversial. So he admitted to a degree to debate that your post says is not there. Other than that, I know nothing. Who was the character in Hogan's Heroes who always said "I know nothing"?

To: frankw1900 who wrote (71867)	2/7/2003 2:32:30 AM
From: Bilow	Respond to of 281500

Hi frankw1900; Re: "Rockets are throw away weapons - get a lot of firepower for cheap - fine tolerances aren't necessary or desirable." I'm glad that someone understands this better than I do. It's so good that the thread has an expert that can explain these things to us. Exactly what surface flatness and tolerance is required for a missile capable of going 150km, as opposed to a uranium centrifuge? I suppose you'll want to know how accurate the missile has to be when it hits its target, for that you should use the standard value for that range missile. For that matter, what are the surface specifications for US missile parts in comparable missiles? I myself know very little about what kind of tolerances missiles require. But whenever I've seen them, they seem to be pretty smooth. On the other hand, I've seen more than my share of centrifuges, and they don't seem that much more smooth. The centrifuges I've always dealt with don't have to be particularly well balanced, so I don't know where the US government is coming from here. For example, even an ultracentrifuge that produces an acceleration 600,000 times stronger than the earth's gravity field only requires 10% sample weight matching accuracy: Beckman XL 90, LE 80 Ultracentrifuges ... Sample imbalance tolerance: Up to 10% of volume in opposite tubes ... Maximum Force of 602,000 x g (rotor dependent) ... gmi-inc.com The above fact about centrifuges is due to some pretty simple physics about rotating bodies. -- Carl P.S. It might be useful if you could further expound on exactly what tolerance the aluminum tubes purchased by Iraq are manufactured to, and it would also help illuminate the problem if you could tell us what tolerance is more usual for the many manufacturing techniques used in tube manufacture. Here, I'll get you started with extrusions: aavidthermalloy.com