"It seems that the plutonium-239 plan proposed by the Führer Ciric at the beginning is really a shortcut!" As he walked, Heisenberg said to Hahn.

At the beginning, in the choice of nuclear weapons, Ciric first decided on the plutonium-239 plan, which didn't seem to have much feeling at the time, but now he has realized Ciric's wisdom.

Compared to direct combustion to get plutonium, the centrifuge method is really too expensive!

How expensive is it? The nearby power station is almost enough for the entire population of Germany, and now, just for these centrifuges, it is just right! The consumption of the country's electricity to engage in the enrichment of nuclear raw materials is also the reason why few countries in later generations have been able to cross the nuclear threshold.

If it is used as a raw material for nuclear reactors, then as long as it is enriched to 50 or 60 percent, some countries can take raw materials for nuclear reactors, but nuclear weapons, to be enriched to 99 percent, almost all of them are uranium-235, and the difficulty of this is increasing exponentially.

It is conservatively estimated that relying on these centrifuges of our own side, it will take at least two years of work to make raw materials for a nuclear weapon.

While the two were communicating, they walked out of the underground centrifuge separation plant here.

"Yes, our current plutonium-239 is produced in enough quantities, and now, our last problem is the problem of determining the critical mass."

Hahn said.

This is a professional content, the inside of the atom is quite empty, if the nucleus of the atom is compared to a football, the space of the atom is definitely much larger than the entire football field.

Fission occurs under the impact of neutrons, and at the same time, there will be neutrons in the products of the impact, and three or four neutrons will be generated at a time of fission, which means that once the fission starts, it can go on spontaneously, because the neutrons of the product will hit other nuclei and continue to induce nuclear reactions.

In this way, a neutron hits the nucleus of an atom to form a fission reaction, releasing four neutrons, and the four neutrons hit four nuclei again to generate four nuclear reactions, which will hit sixteen neutrons, so that the exponential growth will occur, and a large number of nuclei will be fissioned in a short period of time, and a huge amount of energy will be released.

This is the atomic bomb.

However, the inside of the atom is quite empty, and if the atom is not large enough, then there will be a result, the neutron has not yet hit the nucleus, and as a result, it flies out of it.

The volume of the entire nuclear material that can continue the reaction is called the critical volume, and the corresponding mass is called the critical mass.

This thing is not good to be calculated theoretically, it must be measured in experiments.

Heisenberg nodded: "Yes, the measurement of critical mass is urgent, have you found good personnel?" ”

There is no doubt that such experiments are quite dangerous, and the people who conduct them must be cautious.

Hahn nodded: "We have selected seven people from the volunteers to form a measurement team, among them, the operator is Slotin, his response is the fastest, and he also has excellent psychological quality." ”

Heisenberg cautiously took the information handed over by Hahn, and at the top, the code name of the entire test project, scratching the tail of the dragon.

The name alone is enough to reflect the danger of this project, just like scratching the tail of an evil dragon, once you anger the evil dragon, a slap will kill you.

Slotin, a nickname, is a dead little superman.

repeatedly died, repeatedly did not die, so he got such a title.

Slotin, a Canadian, was an amateur boxing champion at school. Before finishing college, he came to Spain with the friendship of revolutionary comrades-in-arms, and participated in the Spanish Civil War, and as a result, like George Orwell, he saw the ideal he was pursuing, which was simply ridiculous.

All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal. This is definitely the best irony. The fruits of the revolution were eventually usurped.

Slotin woke up and, like Orwell and others, was captured in the final battle, and then, began a new life in Germany.

He quickly settled into his new life, he lived happily in Germany, he became a test pilot at the German company Henschel, and he had a lot of fun, and he flew all the dangerous subjects, the subjects that could fall to his death at any time.

As a result, he also gained the trust of Germany, if it is a spy, there is no need to risk so many deaths, and it depends on the cost of intelligence.

He had experienced the risk of death, more than twenty times in test flights alone, and each time he saved the day, so he finally received the title of a superman who died in death, and he was extremely satisfied with this title.

He loved to be adventurous, and just before coming to the secret base, he planned to climb the Alps with his bare hands, and as a result, after many layers of screening, he was recruited two years ago to participate in this top-secret project in Germany.

Slotin's résumé was in Heisenberg's hands, and Heisenberg saw the last page and said: "Let him try, and if the experiment is successfully completed, I will ask the Führer to give him the honorary title of Holy Aryan." ”

Base, central area.

The entire nuclear program is too huge, so, like the Manhattan Project in the United States, it is divided into two areas, the inner and outer areas, with different levels of secrecy, and some technicians on the periphery do not know what project they are engaged in.

For example, in a power station, you think you are just a technician in the power plant.

Internally, I only know what I am responsible for, and I don't know everything.

If there is a traitor, then at most he will only know one detail, and only Heisenberg and Hahn will be in charge of the entire project.

Slotin was intrigued by the task, and in a laboratory in the central area, after intensive preparations, the experiment was about to begin.

"This is the Demon Core." Slotin looked at the experimental device in front of him, and a beloved fire welled up in his eyes, for him, this thing was too magical!

In front of him, there are two hemispheres, these two hemispheres, the outside is made of beryllium, and the inside of it, it has the core of plutonium. It is also two halves, one set on the outer two hemispheres.

If you use the metaphor, it is like an egg, cut in half, the beryllium on the outside is the egg skin, and the plutonium on the inside is the yolk.

The plutonium inside is all that has been burned out of the nuclear reactor so far, and it is 6.2 kilograms! Now, it is used to conduct a series of nuclear tests, and if it is installed directly according to the design plan, it may be an atomic bomb directly.

In fact, the steps of the experiment are very simple, gradually approach the two hemispheres, approach, insert a change cone into it, pry it open, insert different specifications of gap fillers, and find the distance relationship between them, which is very easy for the dead little superman.