Trinity

[Subdeacon Joe]

These pictures were taken after the first test of a nuclear weapon code named "Trinity" which was part of the Manhattan Project

The test was conducted at 5:29 a.m. on July 16, 1945 in the Jornada del Muerto desert about 35 miles / 56 km southeast of Socorro, New Mexico, on what was then the USAAF Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range, now part of White Sands Missile Range

The code name "Trinity" was assigned by J. Robert Oppenheimer, the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory
The test was of an implosion-design plutonium device, informally nicknamed "The Gadget", of the same design as the Fat Man bomb later detonated over Nagasaki, Japan, on August 9, 1945

LIFE Magazine Archives - Fritz Goro Photographer WWP-PD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

Can you tell us what we are seeing in pics 2; 3; 4 and 5?

 

Thanks

[Cypress Sun]

58 minutes ago, Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 said:

Can you tell us what we are seeing in pics 2; 3; 4 and 5?

 

Thanks

 

Probably fused sand...glass.

[Subdeacon Joe]

1 hour ago, Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 said:

Can you tell us what we are seeing in pics 2; 3; 4 and 5?

 

Thanks

 

It's "Trinitite." The glass formed from the blast.

 

Quote

The heat of the blast vaporized the steel tower and melted the desert sand and turned it into a green glassy substance. It was called Trinitite and small pieces can still be seen in the area. At one time Trinitite covered much of the depression made by the explosion. Afterward the depression was filled and much of the Trinitite was taken away by the Atomic Energy Commission. To the west of the monument is a low structure which is protecting an original portion of the crater area. In 2004, members of the White Sands Missile Range Public Affairs Office began assisting Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists Robert Hermes and William Strickfaden in a fresh look at Trinitite and how it was formed. The two published the results of their investigation in the Fall 2005 issue of “Nuclear Weapons Journal.”

The two scientists were puzzled by spheroids within pieces of Trinitite. The spheroids looked like little droplets and suggested that instead of being baked below the explosion like a giant Trinitite brulée, the desert sand was first scooped up into the fireball. Inside the fireball, the melted sand behaved just as water does in a regular cloud: tiny droplets aggregated into bigger droplets that became too heavy to remain suspended and fell as a rain of molten glass.

 

Edited July 17 by Subdeacon Joe

[Michigan Slim]

I was born on the 16th. Dad always said there were similarities.....

[Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062]

so, ....... not this .....

https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=6184f27632628c40JmltdHM9MTcyMTE3NDQwMCZpZ3VpZD0yNzllZjBkZC0zYTY0LTZmZjYtMjlmNS1lNDc3M2I5ZTZlM2UmaW5zaWQ9NTU1OQ&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=3&fclid=279ef0dd-3a64-6ff6-29f5-e4773b9e6e3e&u=a1L3ZpZGVvcy9yaXZlcnZpZXcvcmVsYXRlZHZpZGVvP3E9dGhleStzdGlsbCtjYWxsK21lK3RyaW5pdHkrc2xhcCtzY2VuZSZtaWQ9N0Y2QTI1NEIxQzU4NEU0MDk4Mzc3RjZBMjU0QjFDNTg0RTQwOTgzNyZGT1JNPVZJUkU&ntb=1

[Trailrider #896]

1 hour ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

It's "Trinitite." The glass formed from the blast.

Trinitite could make great parking lot surface...especially in a place where "somebody" started something bad...say downtown Tehran or Pyongyang! 

[Subdeacon Joe]

The two modified lead lined M4 Sherman Tanks used by Physicist Herbert L. Anderson to approach the bomb crater after the first test of a nuclear weapon code named "Trinity" on July 16, 1945 which was part of the Manhattan Project

The purpose of the two tanks was to check for radiation and take soil samples, the crater was far more radioactive than expected due to the formation of trinitite, and the crews of the two lead-lined Sherman tanks were subjected to considerable exposure; 
Anderson's dosimeter and film badge recorded 7 to 10 roentgens, while one of the other tank drivers, who made three trips, recorded 13 to 15 roentgens

LIFE Magazine Archives - Fritz Goro Photographer WWP-PD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

I was married on the 16 of July, 1965.....59 years ago yesterday.  Just a side note. 

[Pat Riot]

Jesus, these people had no idea what the hell they were doing. 

[watab kid]

no they didnt - we were learning as we went , no one had ever dreamt it till then , it did end the war 

[Sedalia Dave]

11 hours ago, Pat Riot said:

Jesus, these people had no idea what the hell they were doing. 

 

Not all that different from today.

Edited July 18 by Sedalia Dave

[Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103]

12 hours ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

I was married on the 16 of July, 1965.....59 years ago yesterday.  Just a side note. 

59 years!

Outstanding!

Lead on, my friend!

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

I imagine there’s some interesting stuff where we had more than 800 underground tests.