The Straight Dope 06/24/2005

The Straight Dope -- By Cecil Adams
http://www.straightdope.com

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THE STRAIGHT DOPE 06/24/2005

Dear Cecil:

I've heard talk about "suitcase" nuclear weapons, which
someone could carry around and detonate anywhere. Is this
possible? I'm not talking about whether someone could get
hold of the proper components or be mad enough to pull it
off. Rather, I always thought uranium and plutonium were
really heavy and the amount needed for a bomb would be
too much for one person to tote around. Gold, for
example, is much heavier than most people think,
certainly heavier than movies typically suggest, and
plutonium has a much greater atomic weight and thus
should be even heavier. In the end a suitcase-sized
nuclear device in the back of a truck is just as awful as
a totable one, but the image put forth in the media seems
highly inaccurate to me. --Jonathan, via e-mail

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Cecil replies:

As so often, we need to define our terms. If you're
asking whether it's possible to make a practical nuclear
bomb small and light enough to carry around one-handed in
a Teletubbies lunch box, the answer is probably not.
However, if we expand the menu of mininuke delivery
systems to include, say, a bowling-ball bag or, better
yet, a garden-variety wheeled suitcase, I wouldn't rule
anything out. And if we conjure up what in my opinion is
an entirely plausible scenario with a guy in a parking
meter service uniform pulling an ashcan-sized two-wheeled
coin vault through busy downtown streets at rush hour--
well, I'll make the usual disclaimer about the proper
components not being easy to come by, etc. Strictly from
the standpoint of design feasibility, though, piece of
cake.

While the active ingredients in a nuclear bomb are plenty
heavy . . .

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/050624.html

STAFF REPORT

Dear Straight Dope:

While putting a barbecue together tonight, I dropped a
washer on the ground and couldn't find it, so I did
without. That got me thinking: What do washers do,
anyway? And lock washers? How to they "lock"? I can maybe
see how the split kind, when squeezed by the nut, might
cause some resistance that makes the nut stay tighter
(like back at the dorms when you could jam some pennies
between someone's door and door frame to make it almost
impossible for them to open the door because the deadbolt
was pinched against the strike plate). But what about
those star-shaped lock washers? No way do those things
"lock." Have we been bamboozled all these years by Big
Hardware, or do these things actually work? --Kenny
Shore, Las Vegas, NV

Dear Straight Dope:

How do screws come loose? I mean without provocation or
interference. For example, I have one of those common cat
carriers made of two plastic shells (top and bottom)
which are held together by a dozen or so screws with
plastic nuts. Invariably, after a year or so between vet
appointments, I find that most if not all of the nuts
have unthreaded themselves from the nuts. This happens in
apparent isolation despite non-use of the carrier. I've
found this phenomena in other places as well, such as
threaded PVC connectors in my plumbing that, despite
being strongly hand-tightened, will loosen significantly
after a time. There seems to be some unnamed force at
work that loosens screws. Any ideas? --Screwed

SDSTAFF Una replies: 

Lock washers definitely do something. Little Ed tells the
story of the time he was bolting the starter motor back
on his old Rambler (remember Ramblers?), lost a lock
washer, and, like you, figured he could do without. Silly
Ed! The starter soon shook loose and hung off the engine
at an odd angle, chewing up the pinion and costing Ed big
bucks. Mark my words and avoid his sad fate.   A humble
flat washer is used for many purposes, some proper and
some not. The two most common proper purposes are:

To distribute the pressure of the nut or bolt evenly over
the part being secured, reducing the chance   
of damage thereto, and 

To provide a smooth surface for the nut or bolt to bear
on, making      it less likely to loosen as a result of
an uneven fastening surface. 

(Plumbing washers, the kind found in a faucet, serve a
third purpose, namely to provide a water seal, but that's
a subject for another day.)

For more, see: 
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mwasher.html

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC - 11/23/1984

Dear Cecil: 

Is there any mammalian species where the males breastfeed
the young? The reason I ask is that the external mammary
features of males of the homo sapiens might be a vestige
from a time when men actively participated in
childrearing. Needless to say, if men once had milk-
producing capability this would have far-reaching
socio-sexuo-political ramifications, to say nothing of
the gossip value. --Genuinely Concerned, Washington, D.C. 

Cecil replies:  

Sorry to put the kibosh on this idea, Gene, which 
exhibits the sort of deranged inspiration Cecil loves,
but as far as anybody can tell, there is not now
and never has been a mammalian species in which the
males suckle their young. You bring up an interesting
subject, though, and one that confirms one of my pet
epistemological theories, namely, that for any
conceivable question, no matter how bizarre, there is
some twisted genius somewhere who has devoted his life to
researching the answer. Just so with male lactation. The
genius in this case is one Martin Daly, a psychology
professor at McMaster University in Canada. In 1977 he
wrote a monograph entitled "Why Don't Male Mammals
Lactate?" which I commend to all serious students of the
subject.  

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_321.html

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