(WOW) Photograph of a nuclear explosion less than one millisecond after detonation...

[Playinghardball]

This photograph was captured by a Rapid Action Electronic camera in 1952, during the Tumbler-Snapper tests performed in Nevada.

Only one millisecond after the bomb explodes, this 65.6-foot (20 meters) ball of fire appears in midair, with spikes that look like rotten teeth or stalactites of fire (called the rope trick effect).

More information: http://bit.ly/1duIsQC

[Xipe Totec]

1. It looks like a germinating seed

The seed of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

[Liberal_in_LA]

31. +1

[burnodo]

2. Fascinating

Shouldn't there be more light?

[Savannahmann]

4. the camera is sheilded.

If it wasn't the entire frame would be bright white.

[DreamGypsy]

15. Multiple cameras as described in the article...

...Rapatronic photographs:

Since each camera could record only one exposure on a sheet of film, banks of four to 10 cameras were set up to take sequences of photographs. The average exposure time was three millionths of a second.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

5. special lenses filter out the VAST majority of light... n/t

[Brother Buzz]

18. Polaroid lenses were the shutter

Plenty of light went through, just for a VERY, VERY short duration. Polaroid lenses and this special camera were both invented at MIT.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

23. good point

special shutter speeds did the work... my mistake.

sP

[Brother Buzz]

24. The Polaroid lens was invented up the lane at Harvard

We all make mistakes.

[Posteritatis]

26. They're millisecond-level exposures or less; limits how much light gets through. (nt)

[ProdigalJunkMail]

3. clearly the spawn of

the Flying Spaghetti Monster...



sP

[Maximumnegro]

6. Thanks Obama >: ( nt

[Savannahmann]

8. What does Obama have to do with a nuclear test in 1952?

Look, I'll blame him for things he's done. Reauthorization of the PATRIOT ACT for example. But the only ones who would blame the man for something that happened in 1952 is not thinking right.

[bobduca]

10. I think its "authoritarian satire"

lame attempt at mocking any who might dare criticize Obama.

[kestrel91316]

12. Mocking those who blame him for EVERY problem in the US dating back to its inception, actually.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

9. uh... wtf?

[Hekate]

11. Max, what do you mean? Obama wasn't even BORN in 1952.

I fail to see the relevance or humor or whatever you intended, so please explain.

Hekate

[Cirque du So-What]

17. Hope this helps

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/thanks-obama

[Cleita]

19. Better you should thank Oppenheimer. Obama wasn't born until nine years later.

J._Robert_Oppenheimer was known as the father of the A-bomb.

[MannyGoldstein]

28. Be nice! Please consider Poe's Law!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law

[Maximumnegro]

35. Aka People on DU are crusty old farts

who are so pre-biased with everything they post that it worthless to actually try to make any kind of genuine contribution based on the ability to read and infer.

If that's what you mean then yes, that is apropoe...

Good luck to you Manny.

[greytdemocrat]

7. Incredible!! nt

[DreamGypsy]

13. Clearly one of Easy, Fox, George, or How of the Tumbler-Snapper tests...

...since it's a tower explosion and not a air drop.

Here are some details about the structure of the fireball and rope tricks:

There are two striking features about this picture - the spikes projecting from the bottom of the fireball, and the ghostly mottling of the fireball surface.

The peculiar spikes are extensions of the fireball surface along ropes or cables that stretch from the shot cab (the housing for the test device at the top of the tower) to the ground. This novel phenomenon was named a "rope trick" by Dr. John Malik who investigated it. The effect had been observed in earlier tests when spikes were seen extending along cables that moored the shot towers to the ground. During Snapper Malik conducted experiments using different kinds of cables and ropes, and with different surface treatments. Consequently the spikes in this picture may be due to either mooring cables, or Malik's own test ropes.

The cause of the "rope trick" is the absorption of thermal radiation from the fireball by the rope. The fireball is still extremely hot (surface temperature around 20,000 degrees K at this point, some three and a half times hotter than the surface of the sun; at the center it may be more than ten times hotter) and radiates a tremendous amount of energy as visible light (intensity over 100 times greater than the sun) to which air is (surprise!) completely transparent. The rope is not transparent however, and the section of rope extending from the fireball surface gets rapidly heated to very high temperatures. The luminous vaporized rope rapidly expands and forms a spike-shaped extension of the fireball. Malik observed that if the rope was painted black spike formation was enhanced, and if it was painted with reflective paint or wrapped in aluminum foil no spikes were observed.

Cause of the surface mottling. At this point in the explosion, a true hydrodynamic shock front has just formed. Prior to this moment the growth of the fireball was due to radiative transport, i.e. thermal x-rays outran the expanding bomb debris. Now however the fireball expansion is caused by the shock front driven by hydrodynamic pressure (as in a conventional explosion, only far more intense). The glowing surface of the fireball is due to shock compression heating of the air. This means that the fireball is now growing far more slowly than before. The bomb (and shot cab) vapors were initially accelerated to very high velocities (several tens of kilometers/sec) and clumps of this material are now splashing against the back of the shock front in an irregular pattern (due to initial variations in mass distribution around the bomb core), creating the curious mottled appearance.

The photograph was shot by a Rapatronic camera built by EG&G. Since each camera could record only one exposure on a sheet of film, banks of four to 10 cameras were set up to take sequences of photographs. The average exposure time was three millionths of a second. The cameras were last used at the Test Site in 1962."

The effects are even a bit more intriguing in a false color version:



Here's what an air drop blast looks like:



During the Tumbler-Snapper operation the U.S. triggered 8 atmospheric test blasts like these, 4 air drop and 4 tower, in 65 five days, April 1 to June 5, 1952. One of the purposes was to let the U.S. Military explore the physical and psychological effects of atomic bombs on soldiers - kind of like this one from Operation Butler in 1951:


Troops shown are a mere 6 miles from the blast.

[hunter]

21. Some of the troops were closer than that.

Essentially subjects of an experiment.

Some Documentation:

http://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dtra.mil%2Fdocuments%2Fntpr%2Ffactsheets%2FTeapot.pdf&session_token=j2Jk_cmjaUOt4ePFj8_1jI83pWZ8MTM3Mzg0MzcwM0AxMzczNzU3MzAz

My father-in-law experienced a nuclear explosion up close and then marched around in the ashes while things were still hot.

If humans are not entirely stupid nobody will ever have to see this sort of thing again.

[DreamGypsy]

33. Yes. A recorded interview between a sergeant and a training officer prior to a blast

From: http://archive.org/details/ExerciseDesertRock1951

A tent encampment was set up about 27 miles from where the atomic explosions were detonated on the Nevada Proving Grounds. The encampment housed about 5,000 Army soldiers, civilian observers and technicians. Troops spent hours in classes receiving training in radiation and nuclear weapons effects.

The following is a recorded interview between a sergeant and a training officer prior to a blast:

Question. "How many of your men would volunteer to go up and be in the
foxholes?" (one-half mile from ground zero)

Answer. "I guess about half a dozen."

Question. "It's quite a loud noise when that bomb goes off ... would it do
them any harm?"

Answer. "No sir, not the noise, no."

Question. "How about the radiation? Do you think there is much danger?"

Answer. "Radiation is the least of their worries that the men are thinking
about."

Question. "I think most thought radiation was the greatest danger, didn't
they? Where did they learn differently?"

Answer. "They were, prior to our instructions here. We received a very
thorough briefing."

[burnodo]

30. totally cool...whats with the spicules?

are they hotter than the main explosion?

[DreamGypsy]

34. The spicules are the vaporizing ropes/cables that are attached to the tower.

I don't know for certain, but at the point in the explosion, they are probably cooler than the interior of the fireball, but are emitting electromagnetic radiation (light) in the visible region of the spectrum, while the fireball is emitting x-rays.

I found a very detailed description of the development of the a nuclear explosion Scientific Aspects of Nuclear Explosion Phenomena that describes how the radiation evolves.

[lordsummerisle]

32. If you look closely

you can see a nuclear beastie in the center

[Lurks Often]

14. Interesting in an abstract way n/t

[Archae]

16. For those who like A-bomb porn like this...

(I'm kidding, I'm kidding...)

But if this stuff does interest you, watch a movie called "Trinity And Beyond."

Once top-secret (including Russian and Chinese) films of nuclear blasts.

Here's the full movie:

[ProdigalJunkMail]

25. great flick... well, documentary...

some of the blasts were amazing... ok, all of them were.

sP

[burnodo]

27. I prefer "The Atomic Cafe"

[BartonFarley]

20. one millisecond after detonation

WOW is an understatement!

[leeroysphitz]

22. Metroid. n/t

[enlightenment]

29. This is one of the best books ever on

Nuclear detonations - including some high speed images that are fascinating. It's worth the purchase.

http://www.michaellight.net/work100suns.html

It's a coffee table book - each page is one image. Captions and a timeline are in the back of the book.