the implosion mechanism to initiate the chain reaction compressed it to about half the volume.
Y’know, I’ve done a lot of “hobby research” into nuclear weapons, but never really did the math on the degree to which the pit was compressed. Just on an intuitive level, it’s already a bit difficult to fathom solids compressing, but not unreasonable to imagine. However, in my head it was like, a couple percent at most. Forcing a solid ball of insanely dense metal into a space half of what it originally was just blows my mind even more.
Michigan, where an extremely diverse college town like Ann Arbor that’s listed as one of the most LGBT+ friendly places in the US is only 30 minutes south of Howell, home of KKK members and literal Nazis ‘protesting’ a stage production of The Diary of Ann Frank