Editing Red mercury (section)

== Explanations ==
Red mercury was described by many commentators,{{who|date=June 2011}} and the exact nature of its supposed working mechanism varied widely among them. In general, however, none of these explanations appear to be scientifically or historically supportable.

=== Background ===
Traditional [[Nuclear weapon design#Two-stage thermonuclear weapons|staged thermonuclear weapons]] consist of two parts, a [[Nuclear fission|fission]] "primary" and a fusion/fission "secondary". The energy released by the primary when it explodes is used to (indirectly) compress the secondary and start a [[Nuclear fusion|fusion]] reaction within it. Conventional explosives are far too weak to provide the level of compression needed.

The primary is generally built as small as possible, because the energy released by the secondary is much larger, and thus building a larger primary is generally inefficient. There is a lower limit on the size of the primary, known as the [[critical mass]]. For weapons grade [[plutonium]], this is around {{Cvt|10|kg}}. This can be reduced through the use of [[neutron reflector]]s or clever arrangements of explosives to compress the core, but these methods generally add to the size and complexity of the resulting device.

Because of the need for a fission primary and the difficulty of purifying weapons-grade fissile materials, the majority of [[arms control]] efforts to limit [[nuclear proliferation]] rely on the detection and control of the fissile material and the equipment needed to obtain it.

=== Shortcut to fissionable material ===
A theory popular in the mid-1990s was that red mercury facilitated the enrichment of uranium to weapons-grade purity. Conventionally, such enrichment is usually done with [[Zippe-type centrifuge]]s, and takes several years. Red mercury was speculated{{who|date=June 2011}} to eliminate this costly and time-consuming step. Although this would not eliminate the possibility of detecting the material, it could escape detection during enrichment as the facilities hosting centrifuges normally used in this process are very large and require equipment that can be fairly easily tracked internationally. Eliminating such equipment would in theory greatly ease the construction of a clandestine nuclear weapon.

=== Shortcut to fusible material ===
A key part of the secondary in a [[fusion bomb]] is [[Isotopes of lithium|lithium-6]]-deuteride. When irradiated with high-energy [[neutron]]s, Li-6 creates [[tritium]], which mixes with the deuterium in the same mixture and fuses at a relatively low temperature. Russian weapon designers have reported (1993) that red mercury was the Soviet codename for lithium-6, which has an affinity for mercury and tends to acquire a red colour due to mercuric impurities during its separation process.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hibbs |first=Mark |title='Red mercury' is lithium-6, Russian weaponsmiths say |journal=Nucleonics Week |issue=10 |date=22 July 1993}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=M.|last=Ragheb |date=2010|website=Nuclear Power Engineering |url=https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/mragheb/www/NPRE%20402%20ME%20405%20Nuclear%20Power%20Engineering/Isotopic%20Separation%20and%20Enrichment.pdf |title=Isotopic Separation and Enrichment |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121218200812/https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/mragheb/www/NPRE%20402%20ME%20405%20Nuclear%20Power%20Engineering/Isotopic%20Separation%20and%20Enrichment.pdf |archive-date=2012-12-18}}</ref>

===Red mercury as a ballotechnic===
[[Samuel T. Cohen]], the "father of the [[neutron bomb]]", claimed for a long time that red mercury is a powerful explosive-like chemical known as a [[ballotechnics|ballotechnic]]. The energy released during its reaction is allegedly enough to directly compress the secondary without the need for a fission primary in a [[Nuclear weapon design|thermonuclear weapon]]. He claimed that he learned that the Soviet scientists perfected the use of red mercury and used it to produce a number of [[softball]]-sized [[Pure fusion weapon|pure fusion bombs]] weighing as little as {{convert|10|lb|abbr=on}}, which he claimed were made in large numbers.<ref name=fse>{{cite web |last1=Cohen |first1=Sam |last2=Douglass |first2=Joe |title=The nuclear threat that doesn't exist – or does it? |publisher=Financial Sense Editorials |date=11 March 2003 |url=http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/douglass/2003/0311.html |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081016050603/http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/douglass/2003/0311.html |archive-date=16 October 2008}}</ref>

He went on to claim that the reason this is not more widely known is that elements within the US power structure are deliberately suppressing or hiding information due to the frightening implications such a weapon would have on nuclear proliferation. Since a red mercury bomb would require no fissile material, it would seemingly be impossible to protect against its widespread proliferation given current arms control methodologies. Instead of trying to do so, they simply claim it does not exist, while acknowledging its existence privately. Cohen also claimed that when President [[Boris Yeltsin]] took power, he secretly authorized the sale of red mercury on the international market, and that fake versions of it were sometimes offered to gullible buyers.<ref name=fse/>

Critics argue Cohen's claims are difficult to support scientifically. The amount of energy released by the fission primary is thousands of times greater than that released by conventional explosives, and it appears{{who|date=June 2011}} that the "red mercury" approach would be orders of magnitude smaller than required.

Additionally, it appears there is no independent confirmation of any sort of Cohen's claims to the reality of red mercury. The scientists{{who|date=June 2011}} in charge of the labs where the material would have been made have publicly dismissed the claims (see below), as have numerous US colleagues, including [[Edward Teller]].

According to Cohen,<ref name=fse/> veteran nuclear weapon designer [[Frank Barnaby]] conducted secret interviews with Russian scientists who told him that red mercury was produced by dissolving mercury antimony oxide in mercury, heating and [[Irradiation|irradiating]] the resultant [[amalgam (chemistry)|amalgam]], and then removing the elemental mercury through evaporation.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Barnaby |first=Frank |title=Red mercury: Is there a pure-fusion bomb for sale? |journal=International Defense Review |issue=6 |pages=79–81 |year=1994}}</ref> The irradiation was reportedly carried out by placing the substance inside a nuclear reactor.<ref name="guardian">{{cite news |last=Adam |first=David |title=What is red mercury? |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=30 September 2004 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2004/sep/30/thisweekssciencequestions1 |location=London}}</ref>

=== Stealth paint ===
As mentioned earlier, one of the origins of the term "red mercury" was in the Russian newspaper ''[[Pravda]]'', which claimed that red mercury was "a super-conductive material used for producing high-precision conventional and nuclear bomb explosives, 'stealth' surfaces and self-guided warheads."<ref name=Yelysingate /> Any substance with these sorts of highly differing properties would be suspect to most, but the stealth story continued to have some traction long after most had dismissed the entire story.

=== Nuclear "sting" operations ===
Red mercury is thought by some to be the invention of an intelligence agency or criminal gang for the purpose of deceiving terrorists and rogue states who were trying to acquire nuclear technology on the black market.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZzlNgS70OHAC&pg=RA1-PA313 |page=313 |first1=Eric |last1=Croddy |first2=James J. |last2=Wirtz |title=Weapons of Mass Destruction: An Encyclopedia of Worldwide Policy, Technology, and History |volume=2 |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-85109-490-5 |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]]}}</ref> One televised report indicated that the [[Soviet Union]] encouraged the [[KGB]] and [[Glavnoye Razvedyvatel'noye Upravleniye|GRU]] to arrange [[sting operation]]s for the detection of those seeking to deal in nuclear materials. The Soviet intelligence services allegedly created a myth of the necessity of "red mercury" for the sorts of nuclear devices that [[terrorism|terrorists]] and rogue governments might seek.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019-09-11 |title='Red mercury': Why does this strange myth persist? |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-49641369 |access-date=2024-06-13 |language=en-GB}}</ref> Political entities that already had nuclear weapons did nothing to debunk the myth.

In 1999 ''Jane's Intelligence Review'' suggested that victims of red mercury scams may have included [[Osama bin Laden]].<ref name=doomsday/>

=== Red mercury in southern Africa ===
Organizations involved in [[mine clearance|landmine clearance]] and unexploded munitions disposal noted a belief amongst some communities in southern Africa that red mercury may be found in certain types of ordnance. Attempting to extract red mercury, purported to be highly valuable, was reported as a motivation for people dismantling items of unexploded ordnance, and suffering death or injury as a result. In some cases it was reported that unscrupulous traders may be deliberately promoting this misconception in an effort to build a market for recovered ordnance.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.landmineaction.org/resources/resource.asp?resID=1051 |title=Explosive remnants of War: unexploded ordnance and post-conflict communities |work=landmineaction.org |publisher=Landmine Action |date=31 March 2002 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211075530/http://www.landmineaction.org/resources/resource.asp?resID=1051 |archive-date=11 December 2008 }}</ref>

An explosion in [[Chitungwiza]], Zimbabwe, that killed five people is attributed to a quest to reclaim red mercury from a live landmine.<ref>{{cite news |title=Soldier, ex-cop 'among dead' in Zengeza blast |url=http://www.newzimbabwe.com/news-10095-Soldier,+ex-cop+%E2%80%98among+Zengeza+dead/news.aspx |access-date=26 January 2013 |newspaper=New Zimbabwe |date=24 January 2013 |archive-date=26 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130126213600/http://www.newzimbabwe.com/news-10095-Soldier,+ex-cop+%E2%80%98among+Zengeza+dead/news.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Saudi Arabia ===
In April 2009 it was reported from Saudi Arabia that rumors that [[Singer Corporation|Singer]] sewing machines contained "red mercury" had caused the prices of such machines to massively increase in the Kingdom, with some paying up to [[Saudi riyal|SR]]200,000 for a single machine which could previously have been bought for SR200.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/04/15/2543046.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416054431/http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/04/15/2543046.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 16, 2009 |title=Red mercury hoax sparks sewing machine frenzy |work=[[ABC News (Australia)|ABC News]] |date=15 April 2009}}</ref> Believers in the rumor claimed that the presence of red mercury in the sewing machines' needles could be detected using a mobile telephone; if the line cut off when the telephone was placed near to the needle, this supposedly proved that the substance was present.

In [[Medina]] there was a busy trade in the sewing machines, with buyers seen using mobile phones to check the machines for red mercury content, while it was reported that others had resorted to theft, with two tailors' shops in Dhulum broken into and their sewing machines stolen. At other locales, there were rumors that a Kuwait-based multinational had been buying up the Singer machines, while in Al-Jouf, the residents were led to believe that a local museum was buying up any such machines that it could find, and numerous women appeared at the museum offering to sell their Singer machines.<ref name=saudigazette>{{cite news |last=Al-Maqati |first=Abdullah |title='Red mercury' rumors gain ground |newspaper=[[Saudi Gazette]] |date=14 April 2009 |url=http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=2009041435015&archiveissuedate=14/04/2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716185425/http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=2009041435015&archiveissuedate=14%2F04%2F2009 |archive-date=16 July 2011}}</ref>

There was little agreement among believers in the story as to the exact nature or even color of the red mercury, while the supposed uses for it ranged from it being an essential component of nuclear power, to having the ability to summon [[jinn]], extract gold, or locate buried treasure and perform other forms of magic. These beliefs in the supernatural properties of red mercury are rooted in [[Alchemy in the medieval Islamic world|medieval Islamic]] conceptions of the [[alchemy|alchemical]] properties of mercury. The official spokesman for the [[Riyadh]] police said that the rumors had been started by gangs attempting to swindle people out of their money, and denied the existence of red mercury in sewing machines.<ref name=saudigazette/>