Christofilos effect

The Christofilos effect, sometimes known as the Argus effect, refers to the entrapment of electrons from nuclear weapons in the Earth's magnetic field. It was first predicted in 1957 by Nicholas Christofilos, who suggested the effect had defensive potential in a nuclear war, with so many beta particles becoming trapped that warheads flying through the region would experience huge electrical currents that would destroy their trigger electronics. The concept that a few friendly warheads could disrupt an enemy attack was so promising that a series of new nuclear tests was rushed into the US schedule before a testing moratorium came into effect in late 1958. These tests demonstrated that the effect was not nearly as strong as predicted, and not enough to damage a warhead. However, the effect is strong enough to be used to black out radar systems and disable satellites. Among the types of energy released by a nuclear explosion are a large number of beta particles, or high energy electrons. These are primarily the result of beta decay within the debris from the fission portions of the bomb, which, in most designs, represents about 50% of the total yield. Because electrons are electrically charged, they induce electrical currents in surrounding atoms as they pass them at high speed. This causes the atoms to ionize while also causing the beta particles to slow down. In the lower atmosphere, this reaction is so powerful that the beta particles slow to thermal speeds within a few tens of meters at most. This is well within a typical nuclear explosion fireball, so the effect is too small to be seen. At high altitudes, the much less-dense atmosphere means the electrons are free to travel long distances. They have enough energy that they will not be recaptured by the proton that is created in the beta decay, so they can, in theory, last indefinitely. In 1951, as part of the first wave of research into fusion energy, University of California Radiation Laboratory at Livermore ("Livermore") researcher Richard F.