A cobalt bomb, is a type of salted bomb, is a nuclear weapon originally proposed by physicist Leó Szilárd, who suggested that it would be capable of destroying all life on Earth. The weapon's tamper would be of ordinary cobalt metal, which the explosion then would transmute to the radioactive isotope Cobalt-60 ( 60Co), a component of the produced deadly fallout.
The cobalt tamper would be transmuted into the isotope 60Co upon initiation and bombardment by neutron radiation. 60Co decays into an excited 60Ni by beta decay. The excited 60Ni then transitions to a ground state 60Ni, releasing gamma radiation.
Other isotopes could also be used for salted bombs, including gold-197, tantalum-181, and zinc-64.[1]
The fallout would have a half-life of 5.27 years and would be intensely radioactive, a combination which caused Szilárd to suggest that such bombs could wipe out all life on the planet. Critics of the cobalt bomb concept point out that the mass needed would still be unreasonably large: 1 gram of 60Co per square kilometer of Earth's surface is 510 tonnes, and fallout does not reach all areas in equal proportions and dispersement (winds, etc.)[citation needed]. While the sheer size and cost of such a weapon makes it unlikely to be built, it is technically possible because there is no maximum size limit for a thermonuclear bomb.
In Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1969), post-apocalyptic mutant telepaths worship a cobalt-encased doomsday bomb, in parody of Christian worship, amidst the subterranean ruins of New York City in AD 3955. At story's end, dying astronaut Col. George Taylor explodes it; the narrative postscript reports that the Earth is a dead planet; yet three ape scientists escape to the past in Col. Taylor's faster-than-light space craft, establishing the events of Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1973), the third film in the Planet of the Apes series.
This type of device was also referenced on Star Trek: The Original Series. The episode "Obsession" (1967) includes a statement that one ounce of antimatter has the explosive force of more than 10,000 cobalt bombs.
Cobalt bombs feature in a number of Philip K Dick's short stories including "Null-0" and "Exhibit Piece".
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