Editing User:SqueakSquawk4

<noinclude>I have done a bunch of things! I wrote most of explanation for [[2527]], and created (Badly) the page for [[2616]]. I think I screwed that last one up though. I will add more later.

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Hello people! You are probably looking for how I calculated the yield of a baloon made of helium-2 for [[2649: Physics Cost-Saving Tips]]. Well you're in luck!

Calculation time! (Sorry). </noinclude>Helium-2 has a {{w|half-life}} of {{w|Isotopes_of_helium#List_of_isotopes|roughly 10<sup>-9</sup> seconds, or one nanosecond}}, and a mean life of [https://www.omnicalculator.com/chemistry/half-life roughly 1.44 nanoseconds.] For context, light travels at [https://www.google.com/search?q=1+speed+of+light+to+cm%2Fnanosecond roughly 30 cm per nanosecond.] This means that on a human scale the energy is released all at once, and we only have to calculate total energy released, and not worry about time taken.

Helium-2 decays through 99.99% {{w|proton emission}}. For simplicity's sake, we'll call that 100%. Helium-2 is formed from two hydrogen-1s, and 1.25 megaelectron-volts, or as {{w|Isotopes_of_helium#Helium-2_(diproton)|an equation,}} [[2614: 2|<table style="display: inline-table; line-height: 0.6em; vertical-align: middle; font-size:7pt; text-size-adjust: none;"><tr><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>1</td></tr></table>]]H + [[2614: 2|<table style="display: inline-table; line-height: 0.6em; vertical-align: middle; font-size:7pt; text-size-adjust: none;"><tr><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>1</td></tr></table>]]H + 1.25 {{w|MeV}} = [[2614: 2|<table style="display: inline-table; line-height: 0.6em; vertical-align: middle; font-size:7pt; text-size-adjust: none;"><tr><td>2</td></tr><tr><td>2</td></tr></table>]]He. It therefore follows that decay from a helium-2 atom to two hydrogen-1 atoms would release 1.25 MeV,{{cn}} per the {{w|conservation law}}s of energy and mass.

A moderately-sized balloon [https://www.balloonartonline.com/balloons-sizes-and-types-2/ might have a diameter of 12 inches.] Some calculations give this a volume of roughly 14.83 liters (assuming a spherical balloon.) If the balloon is at 1 atmosphere of pressure at 25 degrees Celsius, then [https://www.omnicalculator.com/chemistry/molar-mass-of-gas there would be 0.6058 mol] in the balloon, mean that there is 0.6058 * 6.022×10<sup>23</sup> atoms, or [https://www.convertunits.com/from/mol/to/atoms 364,800,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms.]

To recap, a helium-2 atom decaying results in 1.25 MeV of energy, and there are roughly 364.821 sextillion atoms in a balloon. 

Every atom will create 1.25 MeV of energy, and therefore 365 sextillion atoms will create [https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=364%2C821%2C332%2C070%2C000%2C040%2C000%2C000*1.25 365*1.25 sextillion, or 456 sextillion MeV.] Interestingly, this is equal to {{w|Names of large numbers|456 nonillion electron volts}}, or {{w|Metric prefix|4.56 megayottaelectron-volts}}. 456 sextillion megaelectron-volts is also equal to [https://www.google.com/search?q=456000000000000000000000+MeV+to+Megajoules roughly 73,100 megajoules,] or [https://www.google.com/search?q=73100+Megajoules+to+Tons+of+TNT 17.4 tons of TNT equivalent.]<noinclude>

This is rather big. but not massively so. The smallest nuclear bomb, the {{w|W54}}, had a yield of between 10 and 1000 {{w|TNT equivalent|tons of TNT}}. The largest conventional bomb, the {{w|GBU-43/B MOAB}}, has a yield of roughly 11 tons. The {{w|M67 grenade}} uses 180 grams of {{w|Composition B|TNT-RDX mixture}}. So while the Helium-2 baloon bomb would be larger than all conventional bombs, it would still be smaller than most nukes.

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I have a discussion page now!

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