PRODUCT OF THE FIRST ATOMIC BOMB EXPLOSION
(ATOMSITE)
TRINITY SITE, TULAROSA BASIN, ALAMOGORDO,
SOCORRO COUNTY, NEW MEXICO, U.S.A.
Early in the morning on July 16, 1945, the first atomic bomb blast
was detonated at the Trinity Site. The actual explosion produced a blast equivalent to
eighteen thousand tons of TNT. The resulting fireball that scorched the desert formed a
depressed crater 800 yards in diameter, glazed with a light olive green, glass-like
substance where the sand had melted and solidified again. The following excerpt is from
Time Magazine, Sept. 17, 1945: “Seen from the air, the crater itself seems (looks
like) a lake of green Jade shaped like a splashy star, and set in a sere disc of burnt
vegetation half a mile wide. From close up the lake is a glistening encrustation of
blue-green glass 2,400 feet in diameter, formed when the molten soil solidified in
air.” Chemical tests have confirmed that it is nearly pure melted silica with traces
of Olivine, Feldspar, and other minerals which comprise the desert sand. The crater was
buried for security reasons not long after the explosion and, as a result, Trinitite has
remained relatively difficult to obtain. This material was, of course, collected many
years ago. A copy of a one page report, taken from “Minerals of New Mexico”, S.
A. Northrop (1959) is available covering Trinitite, and a copy of this information will be
supplied with each sample ordered, if requested. Each specimen has the light
olive green, glass-like, fused top surface, with interesting rounded form. The bottom of
each piece exhibits the rough texture of the sandy desert surface, which remained
untouched by the blast. While the Trinitite was highly radioactive in 1945 when it was
formed, more than fifty years have passed and at the present time, radioactivity is
virtually zero.
| AERIAL VIEW OF GROUND
ZERO
|
EARLY MORNING - JULY 16, 1945
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THE STORY
OF THE TRINITY SITE NUCLEAR EXPLOSION, |
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THE LOS ALAMOS PRIMER: |
| HOME PAGE | SPECIMEN PAGES 1 2 3 |
