The news this morning in the UK was abuzz with stories of police action related to people trying to buy red mercury for a terrorist weapon; this rang no bells with me, so I did a bit of Googling:
The science newsgroups have been a-buzz with tales of a 2-kiloton yield Russian red mercury fusion device, theoretically in the possession of terrorists. This, of course, begs the question: What Is Red Mercury? The answer to this question depends largely on who you ask. Is red mercury real? Absolutely, but definitions vary. If you had asked me before I did a bit of Internet research, I would have given you the standard cinnabar/vermillion answer. However, the Russium tritium fusion bomb is more interesting…
The short version is: the term red mercury is vague and means nothing specific, much less are many (if any) of the known meanings of the term anything to do with radioactivity or other bomb-like materials.
Sounds like hype, then. I can’t help wonder if the whole concept (dating from earlier this year) isn’t some sort of meme, or planted idea, meant to draw potential terrorists out into the open…
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