Questions from a seven year old - help!

[aneeshm]

I remember that CBSE schools in India used to have a chapter in English which was essentially a graphic description of the effects the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs had on people - including peeling skin, baking and frying popped eyeballs due to the heat, people jumping in water only to find it boiling, people dying in many horrible way, the works. They removed it a few years before we got there, but otherwise, the syllabus was so designed that children would start that chapter on the anniversary of the bombings.

 

[Hitti-Litti]

Hehe, I have a 6 year old little brother and he has same wierd questions. Questions he asked today:

Is there a word for something that's terrible and nice?
Can something be hot and cold?
Do giant tarantulas exist?

 

[Mirc]

Ahhh not for a child or anyone else.
A weapon to kill everyone but leave their buildings in tact for you to plunder. Sick.

I know itţs not a great description for a child. Ş=

EditŞ How do I get the kezboard back to English__

(the Ş= is supposed to be a smiling smilez, and the underscores question marks=

 

[White Elk]

I remember that CBSE schools in India used to have a chapter in English which was essentially a graphic description of the effects the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs had on people - including peeling skin, baking and frying popped eyeballs due to the heat, people jumping in water only to find it boiling, people dying in many horrible way, the works. They removed it a few years before we got there, but otherwise, the syllabus was so designed that children would start that chapter on the anniversary of the bombings.

I think that children at grade six in the US should be shown the uncensored results of the nuclear bombings of Japan after they see the devastation from the bombing of Dresden etc. They are mature enough and must know what has been done. I would hope that all this comes just prior to the anniversary of Hiroshima and then Nagasaki. So that they can then formulate their own thoughts on remembrance.


Im really curious as to how Mathilda is dealing with this with one so young.

 

[dutchfire]

EditŞ How do I get the kezboard back to English__

(the Ş= is supposed to be a smiling smilez, and the underscores question marks=

Assuming Windows XP

In the bar at the bottom of your screen, left of the clock and some other icons (MSN for example) is a icon of a keyboard. Click it, you'll get to chose between a few languages (Probably United States and Romanian).

 

[Mirc]

Assuming Windows XP

In the bar at the bottom of your screen, left of the clock and some other icons (MSN for example) is a icon of a keyboard. Click it, you'll get to chose between a few languages (Probably United States and Romanian).

Ah thanks so much... I don't know how anyone can type on that Romanian keyboard.

 

[Dann]

...a graphic description of the effects the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs had on people - including peeling skin, baking and frying popped eyeballs due to the heat, people jumping in water only to find it boiling, people dying in many horrible way, the works...

Hehe... with today's kids who are saturated with TV and games they'd probably think: "Cool!" "Can't wait to use that tonight in Civ." etc.

 

[Gogf]

I don't think so. Glass is actually a very thick liquid, and therefore I imagine that air-molecules will be stoped.

I'm pretty sure it's a myth that glass is a liquid. It's an amorphous solid.

 

[Mirc]

I don't think so. Glass is actually a very thick liquid, and therefore I imagine that air-molecules will be stoped.

Glass is only liquid when heated, the same with metal, plastic, etc.

 

[Mathilda]

OK
Explanation passed as sufficient.
The "why" this time wasn't a moral why, but a technical why.
I just explained the technicalities as good as I could, and yes, we did discuss Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well.
He had some sort of idea already as to what an atomic bomb was.

And White Elk, Simpsons is pretty much the only thing they watch on tv.

And now, we are building a scalectrics track.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

No questions like: "where do babies come from?" yet?

 

[nonconformist]

Great people of CFC OT - we have a new question
Could anyone help me explain neutron bombs in a sort of language that a nine year old understands.
Yes, we've read the wiki page already, no need to link to link to that.
Thanks

The neutrom bomb is known, quite ironically, as the "safe bomb", because there is, as such, no huge sod-off explosion.

Instead, it saturates an area with a high concentration of radiation, including gamma rays, but the real killer, free neutrons.
Free neutrons are so dangerous, because neutrons are relatively massive, and are travelling at great speed, hence they have a great momentum.


These will mess with everythign with DNA, and basically screw then up enough to kill them. Painfully.
Buildings and anything non-orgnic is left unscathed though.

How long does it take to kill? Hmm, I'd say it would take within a day to a week depending on distance from epicentre etc. Radiation isn;t a quick killer, your body slowly degrades after beign exposed.

A bomb shelter would only really work if it were co0vered in metres of earth, or had thick concrete or lead walls.


The neutron bomb is called the "safe" bomb, because there is no fallout, and there is no explosion, and the effects are confined to a certain are. That's why it can be considered a "tactical" weapon, rather than a "strategic" one.

 

[Mathilda]

No questions like: "where do babies come from?" yet?

Ah, no we've done that one long time ago, and that was easy.
We've done, God, Jesus, gays, big bang, negative numbers, cellular biology, Iraq war, racism, politics to a certain extent...

Current favourites spin around rich and poor countries and historical situations and reasons behind these.

 

[Dann]

No questions like: "where do babies come from?" yet?

When it comes just do what Calvins' dad did:

Calvin: Dad, where did I come from?
Dad: Well most people just buy the kit from Sear's and assemble it themselves once back home...
Calvin (shocked): I came from Sear's?!
Dad: Oh no. You were a blue-light special at K-mart. Half the price, but almost just as good.

Incidentally back when we were kids the stock answer was that we were picked up from the garbage dump. We would then cry and protest that it's not true for the next couple hours and the adults get very entertained without having to answer our question.

EDIT: X-posted. Never mind.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

We've done, God, Jesus, gays, big bang, negative numbers, cellular biology, Iraq war, racism, politics to a certain extent...

Hey, the same topics we discuss here, are the things of intrest of 7 year olds

There's a conclusion there, but I'm too scared to try to phrase it

Current favourites spin around rich and poor countries and historical situations and reasons behind these.

Ouch!

"You see dear, people can get a little silly at times for many reasons, and when they do, this is wat happens"

That would be my best shot at explaining all of them. My nephew had a "why" episode not too long ago. Everytime you try to give an answer he just went: "Why is that?". He usually had me cornered in 3 to 4 questions.

edit: Dann, gotta love Calvin

 

[Mathilda]

Oh, and just to clarify, he's now nine, this thread started two years ago.
Most things I manage to answer adequately enough, just occasionally I give in and come and come and ask help from great minds

But I wouldn't be surprised if he would become the first OT:er whose mum is a mod.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

That would be funny.

fake message:
Moderator Action: Go to your bed NOW!

 

[Leifmk]

The neutrom bomb is known, quite ironically, as the "safe bomb", because there is, as such, no huge sod-off explosion.

Your post contains a lot of misinformation.

A neutron bomb is, to begin with, a nuclear fission bomb and functions as such. There is a huge sod-off explosion -- not a multimegaton "destroy a large city plus its suburbs" fusion bomb explosion, but for most designs a classical multikiloton "destroy one town, or part of a large city" explosion.

All nuclear bombs generate a burst of free neutrons as a byproduct; a neutron bomb is built so as to enhance this to the point where the lethal radius of said neutron burst is significantly larger than that of the bomb's other effects. Therefore, the result if you were to drop such a bomb on a populated area would be just as devastating as if you dropped a conventional fission bomb, except that there would also be a larger area outside of the devastation proper where people (and other lifeforms) suffered radiation poisoning (severity depending on exact distance, and degree of cover). In that larger area, you'd get the "people die or are incapacitated but buildings and roads aren't destroyed" effect.

The original idea for this type of bomb was, I believe, to use it as a tactical weapon against armor. A modern battle tank is fairly resistant to heat and shockwaves, so a tactical nuke has a fairly small kill radius against them; with a neutron bomb, you would kill or incapacitate the crew of a tank (or passengers in an APC, etc.) at much greater distance from the explosion, since the neutrons can penetrate a significant amount of armour (and those neutrons which are stopped will set off secondary radiation).

A neutron bomb would generate fallout to the same extent as a regular fission bomb would, detonated under the same conditions, i.e. highly variable. A bomb shelter protected under several meters of earth, rock or concrete would be safe (as long as it's not close enough to be blown up by the explosion), as even free neutrons can't penetrate solid objects that well (and since they stop in the first meter or three of concrete, the secondary radiation they set off stops in the next meter or so).

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Great people of CFC OT - we have a new question
Could anyone help me explain neutron bombs in a sort of language that a nine year old understands.
Yes, we've read the wiki page already, no need to link to link to that.
Thanks

A neutron bomb does its work by shooting out in all directions tiny particles, like little bullets, that you cant even see, but when the tiny particles impact the equally tiny cells of the body, they damage them, like a pin puncturing a balloon filled with water. If too many of your cells get hit by too many of the particles, you get sick, and die.

That might help, I had to consult my inner 9 year old.

 

[Narz]

So Mathilda, did he request you build a bomb shelter? I probably would if I was nine and hearing about all this for the first time!