Open AccessJournal Article
Optical properties of glass from Alamogordo, New Mexico
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The results of a brief study of this glass, made in the laboratories of the U. S. Geological Survey, will no doubt be of interest to mineralogists and petrologists.Abstract:
Specimens of glass resulting from the explosion of the experimental atomic bomb at Alamogordo, New Mexico, have, by various means' come into the hands of numerous institutions and collectors. Notwithstanding this availability, no studies of the material have been published, although a mere description of its physical character would have no bearing on atomic problems. Samples of the glass were collected by C..A. Anderson of the Geological Survey with the permission of Major General Leslie R. Groves, Commanding General for the Manhattan District. The results of a brief study of this glass, made in the laboratories of the U. S. Geological Survey, will no doubt be of interest to mineralogists and petrologists. The glass, in general, formed alayer 1 to 2 centimeters thick, with the upper surface marked by a very thin sprinkling of dust which fell upon it while it was still molten. At the bottom is a thicker fiIm of partly fused material, which grades into the soil from which it was derived. The color of the glass is a pale bottle green, and the material is extremely vesicular' with the size of the bubbles ranging to nearly the full thickness of the specimen. Figure 1 shows photomicrographs of typical specimens of theread more
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Postdetonation nuclear debris for attribution
TL;DR: An investigation of glassed ground debris from the first nuclear test showing correlations among multiple analytical techniques and strong evidence, obtainable only through microanalysis, that secondary materials used in the device can be identified and positively associated with the nuclear material.
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Radioactivity in Trinitite six decades later
P.P. Parekh,Thomas M. Semkow,Thomas M. Semkow,Miguel A. Torres,Douglas K. Haines,Joseph M. Cooper,Peter M. Rosenberg,Michael E. Kitto,Michael E. Kitto +8 more
TL;DR: The determined specific activities of radionuclides and their relationships are interpreted in the context of the fission process, chemical behavior of the elements, as well as the nuclear explosion phenomenology.
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Trinitite—the atomic rock
TL;DR: The first atomic bomb was detonated at the Alamogordo Bombing range in New Mexico, USA on 16 July 1945, and the surrounding desert sand was melted to form a green glassy material called trinitite as mentioned in this paper.
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Trinitite redux: Mineralogy and petrology
G. Nelson Eby,Norman Charnley,Duncan Pirrie,Robert E. Hermes,John A. Smoliga,Gavyn Rollinson +5 more
TL;DR: The first atomic bomb test near Socorro, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945 has been investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Quantitative Evaluation of Minerals (QEMSCAN) analysis to investigate the chemical composition and fine-scale structure of trinitite.
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Evaporative fractionation of zinc during the first nuclear detonation.
James M.D. Day,James M.D. Day,Frédéric Moynier,A. P. Meshik,Olga V. Pradivtseva,Donald Petit +5 more
TL;DR: Using silicate glass formed during the first nuclear detonation at the Trinity test site, New Mexico, it is confirmed that the isotopes of zinc were fractionated during evaporation, implying a volatile-depleted bulk Moon and evidence for similar fractionations in lunar samples.