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Silver for the Atomic Bomb

I was watching a show late the other night about the Manhattan Project when it was mentioned that 15.000 tons!!! of silver were needed at Oak Ridge in order to build the huge magnets needed to help produce fissionable uranium for the the first atomic bomb.

Being there was a great shortage of copper here in the US at the time (Who can forget the steel cents?) and copper was the first choice as a conductor we had to go it second best with silver.
(Why there wasn't a penny drive I don't know maybe there was but I guess time was of the essence.)

The silver was then supplied by the West Point Depository.
About 395 million troy ounces which is 13,540 short tons were shipped to Allis-Chalmers in Milwaukee to be cast into cylindrical billets, then rolled into 40-foot strips and wound onto iron cores. Solid-silver bus bars a square foot in cross section crowned each racetrack's long oval. (The racetrack is what is known today as a cyclotron)

The silver at the time was valued at more than $300 million.

Just think of all the pretty coins we could have made...image
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever

Comments

  • BarryBarry Posts: 10,100 ✭✭✭
    Silver is a better conductor than copper. Any physicists out there that can explain why copper would have been preferred (other than cost)?
  • nwcsnwcs Posts: 13,387 ✭✭✭
    As a native Oak Ridger, I'm always proud of the role we played in WWII. image

    There probably wasn't a penny drive because, adjusting for inflation, a cent was actually a useable coin. And, in fact, may have been the most useable coin in commerce.

    By the way, you can still tour the old graphite reactor in Oak Ridge. Although after 9/11 I think it's by appointment only. Of course, I could gush a lot about how great Oak Ridge was, and is. image It's national top 100 schools and the other great things done by the Oak Ridge National Lab...
  • I remember my 9th grade science teacher, Mr. Carletta, telling us about this story. He worked on the Manhattan project as a young assistant. He mentioned the story about the silver, and I recall him saying that once the project was completed they recovered and returned all but a few ounces of the silver that was used. That was a pretty amazing bunch of people!
  • GeminiGemini Posts: 3,085


    << <i>Silver is a better conductor than copper. Any physicists out there that can explain why copper would have been preferred (other than cost)? >>


    You are right Barry, I think copper was the best common metal choice for a conducter for the coil windings of the electromagnets but I guess it was scarcer than silver at the time. image
    A thing of beauty is a joy for ever
  • LanLordLanLord Posts: 11,672 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>Silver is a better conductor than copper. Any physicists out there that can explain why copper would have been preferred (other than cost)? >>

    You are right Barry, I think copper was the best common metal choice for a conducter for the coil windings of the electromagnets but I guess it was scarcer than silver at the time. image >>

    Another issue may be that once silver oxidizes it becomes much less conductive therefore less reliable as an electical conductor.
  • ShamikaShamika Posts: 18,759 ✭✭✭✭
    Keep in mind the importance of this project. Silver was used because it was the best electrical conductor known. Cost was of no consequence.

    Buyer and seller of vintage coin boards!
  • Since the government already owned the silver, and they were going to get it back, the material cost was near zero. Also since silver is a better conductor there is less energy lost as heat which means more energy goes into the seperation process and it becomes more efficient. Not to mention that there would be less energy consumption required for cooling of the equipment
  • dcarrdcarr Posts: 7,936 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Not only is silver the best ELECTRICAL conductor of all metals, but it is also the best THERMAL conductor. Anything copper can do, silver can do better image Copper oxidizes more readily than silver, generally.
  • ebaytraderebaytrader Posts: 3,312 ✭✭✭
    Interesting new article on the use of gold in sponge form for storage batteries. Seems to be the only metal that can hold a large charge without retaining heat and allowing for more power to be run in large short bursts. Im sure we will hear more soon unless someone on hear can enlighten us more.

    Regards
    Brian Kuszmar
  • Anything that silver can do, gold can do better.
  • BarryBarry Posts: 10,100 ✭✭✭
    Not true. Gold is not as good a conductor as silver or copper.
  • ShamikaShamika Posts: 18,759 ✭✭✭✭
    Barry is correct!
    Buyer and seller of vintage coin boards!
  • ebaytraderebaytrader Posts: 3,312 ✭✭✭
    I should add that it's being used in the batteries in lieu of carbon(I beleive)I dont beleive its primary use is conductivity of electricity, has something to do with heat and its disapation
    qualities. Just read it on discovery.com or one of the tech sites, as I said Im sure we will hear more about it on the news down the road.

    Regards
  • I'm actually hoping that silver and plladium will become the next biggest thing in electronics. Is it correct that both of these metels can be used in eletronics, especially high frequencies, and are more effecient with less high freq impedance?

    If silver becomes more used in industrial and comercial sectors, the non numesmatic portion of the price in coins will rise. This is what I would like to see happen.
    Calling all Morgans!!!
    My Ebay Items

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