Trinitite is a green glassy mineral created by the heat of the first nuclear bomb test in 1945. It is slightly radioactive and highly prized by collectors. It is illegal to remove materials from the site, and the Atomic Energy Commission demolished the site in 1940. Trinitite is similar to impacttite, another mineral created when a meteor explodes in an airburst, heating sand in a desert and causing it to melt.
Trinitite, also known as Atomite or Alamogordo Glass, is an unusual mineral created in the aftermath of the first nuclear bomb test, Trinity, on July 16, 1945 near Alamogordo, New Mexico. It is a green glassy residue created when sand was fused together by the tremendous heat of the nuclear fireball. Trinitite is slightly radioactive and is highly prized by collectors, to whom it was distributed in the late 1940s after testing. In 1940, the Atomic Energy Commission demolished the site, burying much of the remaining trinite, and it is illegal to remove materials from the site. Occasionally, the term trinite is also extended to molten glass created in other atomic explosions.
The temperature at the center of a nuclear fireball is millions of degrees F, dropping to thousands of degrees F as the fireball dissipates. The melting point of pure silica is around 4200 degrees F, so any sand exposed to that temperature is likely to be transformed into trinite. By testing the fission products left in tiny amounts in the trinite, it is possible to deduce which explosion of a nuclear bomb came from. After a nuclear explosion in a desert, a so-called “glass parking lot” is created underneath it, a term coined shortly after the first test explosion.
Trinitite is not unlike impacttite, another mineral created when a meteor explodes in an airburst, heating sand in a desert and causing it to melt. Such minerals are found in substantial quantities at sites in Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia, South Australia and Tasmania, where they are also known as “desert glass”. Desert glass tends to be clearer and more uniform than trinitite, as the temperature that created it was even more intense, allowing for even melting. The areas where impact can be found are known as strewn fields and can stretch for tens of kilometres.
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