Our Very Nuclear Planet...from a Rachel Maddow blog

[ElsewheresDaughter]

Run time: 07:13 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U8CZAKSsNA   Posted on YouTube: July 22, 2010 By YouTube Member: joco316 Views on YouTube: 110812   Posted on DU: April 04, 2011 By DU Member: ElsewheresDaughter Views on DU: 278

 
http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/04/04/6407163-our-very-nuclear-planet

Since recent events in Japan have almost made nuclear physics a topic at the dinner table, I want to share a video with you that was used in the course I teach at Columbia. For one week of the physics unit, we focused on nuclear energy (little did we know how relevant it would become). It's hard to imagine the energy released by just one nuclear explosion, let alone all the nuclear explosions that have taken place since the bomb was first created. However, watching this video, it's hard not to try to imagine how immense that amount of energy truly must be.

This simulation shows every nuclear bomb detonated between 1945-1998, starting with the Manhattan Project's Trinity test and ending just after Pakistan revealed its nuclear capabilities. As the months tick by, approximately two per second, each country that develops the bomb is represented by the appearance of its flag either above or below the map, accompanied by a running tally of detonations and a flash on the map.