General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOn this day in 1946, the Bikini Atoll Baker nuclear test. Just look at this huge photo of it:
@pourmecoffee: On this day in 1946, the Bikini Atoll Baker nuclear test. Just look at this huge photo of it
Lawd have mercy!
Socal31
(2,484 posts)"Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."
Go Vols
(5,902 posts)leveymg
(36,418 posts)Notice the one standing straight up at the bottom of the water column - that's a battleship. But, Bikini was only a teenie weenie A-bomb about the size of the Trinity device. For scale, here are various bombs ranging up to a 50 megaton H-bomb. The thermonuclear bombs dwarf the little Bikini Atoll bugger, like an ant:
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)leveymg
(36,418 posts)But note the mushroom cloud of an H-bomb is proportionally even bigger. Please see the chart I've added.
One can see why it's been essential to avoid World War III.
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)bananas
(27,509 posts)Wellerstein said on his blog: 'We live in a world where nuclear weapons issues are on the front pages of our newspapers on a regular basis, yet most people still have a very bad sense of what an exploding nuclear weapon can actually do.'
bunnies
(15,859 posts)holy shit.
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)sharp_stick
(14,400 posts)at the lower right part of the mushroom cloud "chimney" is an anchored ship being blown out of the water. I think this was the only shallow underwater test done. The explosion was only 90 or so feet underwater resulting in massive radioactive fallout that they couldn't scrub from the remaining ships.
I've attached another picture and a link to the youtube video.
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)Lurks Often
(5,455 posts)surprisingly well under the circumstances. What really did the damage in the Baker test were the waves generated by the shallow explosion.
PowerToThePeople
(9,610 posts)I know you did not control the dates, but the timing is convenient with all the NSA surveillance talk going on around here.
Are_grits_groceries
(17,111 posts)I see a lot of historical photos in my Twitter timeline.
I post some that I find compelling for different reasons. Nobody compelled me to post it, and that quote never entered my mind. I also had no thoughts about the NSA.
The sites that tweet them send out many different type of photos. A lot of them are historical in nature.
PowerToThePeople
(9,610 posts)I had thought my post would have made that clear.
But images do provoke feelings, maybe even feelings you did not intent them to provoke. I was just stating what I stated to stop anyone from walking down that path of fear that caused things such as the patriot act in the first place.
struggle4progress
(118,379 posts)longship
(40,416 posts)Baker was an A-bomb, Mike and Bravo were H-bombs. The Castle Bravo test ran away and endangered all the observers. It exposed Japanese fisherman who suffered radiation poisoning.
Horrible things.
bunnies
(15,859 posts)Thats got to be the scariest thing Ive ever seen. Geezus. I cant believe those things are legal.
longship
(40,416 posts)As I wrote, it ran away. The physicists missed an important cross-section that made it (as Richard Rhodes described) go like gangbusters.
bunnies
(15,859 posts)My gods... I just watched the Russian Tzar test. I dont even know what to say.
struggle4progress
(118,379 posts)GlashFordan
(216 posts)Survived two atomic bomb tests. Reminds me of a 1970's era Mercedes diesel lol
MicaelS
(8,747 posts)By the late Chuck Hansen. If you can find a copy, I really recommend you read it.
Very rare book. You may find it at your library, but if not copies are out there if you're willing to pay the price. I spent $150 for my copy on eBay several years ago, it was an ex-Library copy and it is worth every penny. Words do not do this book justice. Detailed information on every US Nuclear Weapon at the time of publication (1988). Color and black and white pictures. Footnotes like you would not believe.
http://www.amazon.com/Us-Nuclear-Weapons-Secret-History/dp/0517567407
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Hansen
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=428361480&searchurl=an%3DChuck%2BHansen%26prl%3D10.00%26recentlyadded%3Dall%26sortby%3D1%26sts%3Dt%26tn%3DU.S.%2BNuclear%2BWeapons%253AThe%2BSecret%2BHistory%26x%3D61%26y%3D17
http://www.ebay.com/itm/U-S-Nuclear-Weapons-Secret-History-Chuck-Hansen-1988-Hardcover-/271212431345?pt=US_Nonfiction_Book&hash=item3f258547f1
DonRedwood
(4,359 posts)rug
(82,333 posts)Archae
(46,358 posts)El Supremo
(20,365 posts)indepat
(20,899 posts)such a much safer world for all living things on this fragile planet?