Topzle Topzle

Trinity (nuclear test)

Updated: Wikipedia source

Trinity (nuclear test)

Trinity was the first detonation of a nuclear weapon, conducted by the United States Army at 5:29 a.m. Mountain War Time (11:29:21 GMT) on July 16, 1945, as part of the Manhattan Project. The test was of an implosion-design plutonium bomb, or "gadget" – the same design as the Fat Man bomb later detonated over Nagasaki, Japan, on August 9, 1945. Concerns about whether the complex Fat Man design would work led to a decision to conduct the first nuclear test. The code name "Trinity" was assigned by J. Robert Oppenheimer, the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory. The name was possibly inspired by the poetry of John Donne. Planned and directed by Kenneth Bainbridge, the test was conducted in the Jornada del Muerto desert about 35 miles (56 km) southeast of Socorro, New Mexico, on what was the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range, but was renamed the White Sands Proving Ground just before the test. The only structures originally in the immediate vicinity were the McDonald Ranch House and its ancillary buildings, which scientists used as a laboratory for testing bomb components. Fears of a fizzle prompted construction of "Jumbo", a steel containment vessel that could contain the plutonium, allowing it to be recovered, but Jumbo was not used in the test. On May 7, 1945, a rehearsal was conducted, during which 108 short tons (98 t) of high explosive spiked with radioactive isotopes was detonated. 425 people were present on the weekend of the Trinity test. In addition to Bainbridge and Oppenheimer, observers included Vannevar Bush, James Chadwick, James B. Conant, Thomas Farrell, Enrico Fermi, Hans Bethe, Richard Feynman, Isidor Isaac Rabi, Leslie Groves, Frank Oppenheimer, Geoffrey Taylor, Richard Tolman, Edward Teller, and John von Neumann. The Trinity bomb released the explosive energy of 25 kilotons of TNT (100 TJ) ± 2 kilotons of TNT (8.4 TJ), and a large cloud of fallout. Thousands of people lived closer to the test than would have been allowed under guidelines adopted for subsequent tests, but no one living near the test was evacuated before or afterward. The test site was declared a National Historic Landmark district in 1965 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places the following year.

Infobox

Country
United States
Test site
Trinity Site, New Mexico
Date
July 16, 1945(80 years ago) (1945-07-16)
Test type
Atmospheric
Device type
Plutonium implosion fission
Yield
25 kt (100 TJ)

Tables

Fission bomb's energy distribution in the "moderate" kiloton range near sea level · Explosion › Instrumentation and measurements
Blast
Blast
Contemporary fundamental physics, data from the Trinity test, and others, resulted in the following total blast and thermal energy fractionation being observed for fission detonations near sea level
Blast
Contemporary fundamental physics, data from the Trinity test, and others, resulted in the following total blast and thermal energy fractionation being observed for fission detonations near sea level
50%
Thermal energy
Thermal energy
Contemporary fundamental physics, data from the Trinity test, and others, resulted in the following total blast and thermal energy fractionation being observed for fission detonations near sea level
Thermal energy
Contemporary fundamental physics, data from the Trinity test, and others, resulted in the following total blast and thermal energy fractionation being observed for fission detonations near sea level
35%
Initial ionizing radiation
Initial ionizing radiation
Contemporary fundamental physics, data from the Trinity test, and others, resulted in the following total blast and thermal energy fractionation being observed for fission detonations near sea level
Initial ionizing radiation
Contemporary fundamental physics, data from the Trinity test, and others, resulted in the following total blast and thermal energy fractionation being observed for fission detonations near sea level
5%
Residual fallout radiation
Residual fallout radiation
Contemporary fundamental physics, data from the Trinity test, and others, resulted in the following total blast and thermal energy fractionation being observed for fission detonations near sea level
Residual fallout radiation
Contemporary fundamental physics, data from the Trinity test, and others, resulted in the following total blast and thermal energy fractionation being observed for fission detonations near sea level
10%
Contemporary fundamental physics, data from the Trinity test, and others, resulted in the following total blast and thermal energy fractionation being observed for fission detonations near sea level
Blast
50%
Thermal energy
35%
Initial ionizing radiation
5%
Residual fallout radiation
10%

References

  1. Mountain War Time (MWT) was six hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), the predecessor of Coordinated Universal Time (U
  2. From the poem "Hymn to God, My God, in My Sickness"
    https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44114/hymn-to-god-my-god-in-my-sickness
  3. Holy Sonnets, Holy Sonnet 14
    https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Holy_Sonnets/Holy_Sonnet_14
  4. The mattresses would not have protected the gadget, but they helped the men to feel better.
  5. The reaction Teller was most concerned with was: 147N + 147N → 2412Mg + 42He (alpha particle) + 17.7 MeV.
  6. Oppenheimer spoke these words in the television documentary The Decision to Drop the Bomb (1965). Oppenheimer read the o
    https://archive.org/details/90984-the-decision-to-drop-the-bomb-vwr
  7. The small crater in the southeast corner was from the earlier test explosion of 108 tons of TNT (450 GJ).
  8. National Register of Historic Places
    https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP
  9. "National Historic Landmarks Survey, New Mexico"
    https://web.archive.org/web/20161118103928/https://www.nps.gov/nhl/find/statelists/nm/NM.pdf
  10. Szasz 1992, pp. 3–8.
  11. Jones 1985, pp. 30–31.
  12. Jones 1985, p. 76.
  13. Jones 1985, p. 63.
  14. Jones 1985, pp. 8–10, 28–29.
  15. Jones 1985, pp. 522–523, 535–537.
  16. Jones 1985, pp. 508–509.
  17. Baker, Hecker & Harbur 1983, p. 142.
  18. Hoddeson et al. 1993, pp. 235–239.
  19. Hoddeson et al. 1993, pp. 240–242.
  20. Hoddeson et al. 1993, pp. 130–138.
  21. Hoddeson et al. 1993, pp. 245–247.
  22. Hoddeson et al. 1993, pp. 174–175.
  23. Norris 2002, p. 395.
  24. Donne 1896, pp. 211–212.
  25. Donne 1896, p. 165.
  26. Rhodes 1986, pp. 571–572.
  27. Hawkins, Truslow & Smith 1961, p. 266.
  28. Jones 1985, p. 478.
  29. Bainbridge 1976, p. 4.
  30. Hawkins, Truslow & Smith 1961, pp. 269–270.
  31. Bainbridge 1976, p. 3.
  32. "Trinity Site"
    https://web.archive.org/web/20070806045224/http://www.wsmr.army.mil/pao/TrinitySite/Trinst.htm
  33. "White Sands Missile Range Fact Sheet"
    https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/449089main_White_Sands_Missile_Range_Fact_Sheet.pdf
  34. "U.S. lawmakers move urgently to recognize survivors of the first atomic bomb test"
    https://web.archive.org/web/20230721020808/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/lawmakers-move-urgently-to-recognize-survivors-of-the-first-atomic-bomb-test
  35. Hoddeson et al. 1993, p. 311.
  36. "Trinity Site History: A copy of the brochure given to site visitors"
    https://web.archive.org/web/20140831125557/http://www.wsmr.army.mil/PAO/Trinity/Pages/TrinitySiteHistoryAcopyofthebrochuregiventositevisitors.aspx
  37. "McDonald, David G"
    http://www.nmfarmandranchmuseum.org/oralhistory/detail.php?interview=207
  38. Bainbridge 1975, p. 40.
  39. "Building a test site"
    http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/trinity/building.shtml
  40. Jones 1985, p. 481.
  41. The New Yorker
    https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-first-light-of-the-trinity-atomic-test
  42. Jones 1985, p. 480.
  43. Bainbridge 1975, p. 41.
  44. Bainbridge 1975, p. 42.
  45. Hoddeson et al. 1993, pp. 366–367.
  46. Bainbridge 1975, p. 43.
  47. "Jumbo"
    http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/trinity/jumbo.shtml
  48. "Moving "Jumbo" at the Trinity Test Site"
    https://web.archive.org/web/20130530124159/http://www.brookings.edu/about/projects/archive/nucweapons/jumbo
  49. Jones 1985, p. 512.
  50. Bainbridge 1976, p. 5.
  51. Fraikor 2021, p. 100.
  52. Fraikor 2021, pp. 102–106.
  53. "Trinity History"
    https://web.archive.org/web/20220316003531/https://www.wsmr.army.mil/Trinity/Pages/TrinityHistory.aspx
  54. 100-ton Test: Piezo Gauge Measurements
    https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015086443556&seq=3
  55. Birthplace of the Atomic Bomb: A Complete History of the Trinity Test Site
    https://books.google.com/books?id=h0CIDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT141
  56. Bainbridge 1975, pp. 41, 58.
  57. Hoddeson et al. 1993, pp. 360–362.
  58. Bainbridge 1976, p. 11.
  59. Bainbridge 1976, p. 9.
  60. Dvorak 2013, pp. 9–10.
  61. Bainbridge 1976, p. 12.
  62. "Robert F. Christy"
    https://www.atomicheritage.org/profile/robert-f-christy
  63. Hoddeson et al. 1993, pp. 307–308.
  64. Hawkins, Truslow & Smith 1961, p. 228.
  65. Coster-Mullen 2012, pp. 47–53.
  66. Christy, Robert
    https://web.archive.org/web/20141010073928/http://www.webofstories.com/play/robert.christy/8
  67. Hoddeson et al. 1993, p. 293.
  68. Hoddeson et al. 1993, pp. 270–271, 293–294.
  69. "Christy's Gadget: Reflections on a death"
    http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2012/10/05/christys-gadget/
  70. "Hans Bethe 94 – Help from the British, and the 'Christy Gadget'"
    https://www.webofstories.com/play/hans.bethe/94
  71. "The drama of plutonium"
    https://web.archive.org/web/20100915115554/http://www.neimagazine.com/story.asp?storyCode=2029280
  72. Hawkins, Truslow & Smith 1961, pp. 256–257.
  73. "The third core's revenge"
    http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2013/08/16/the-third-cores-revenge/
  74. "Cyril S. Smith's Interview"
    https://www.manhattanprojectvoices.org/oral-histories/cyril-s-smiths-interview
  75. Hoddeson et al. 1993, p. 365.
  76. Rhodes 1986, p. 657.
  77. Rhodes 1986, pp. 661–663.
  78. Coster-Mullen 2012, pp. 56–57.
  79. Rhodes 1986, p. 654.
  80. Coster-Mullen 2012, pp. 49–50.
  81. Coster-Mullen 2012, p. 58.
  82. Hoddeson et al. 1993, p. 370.
  83. Hoddeson et al. 1993, pp. 368–370.
  84. Hoddeson et al. 1993, p. 483.
  85. Coster-Mullen 2012, p. 314.
  86. "Herbert Lehr"
    https://www.atomicheritage.org/profile/herbert-lehr
  87. Bainbridge 1976, p. 15.
  88. Bainbridge 1976, p. 25.
  89. Hacker 1987, p. 90.
  90. Norris 2002, p. 402.
  91. Bainbridge 1976, pp. 29–30.
  92. Feynman 1985, p. 134.
  93. Albuquerque Journal
    https://www.abqjournal.com/trinity/trinity1.htm
  94. "PHOTO ESSAY: TRINITY SITE"
    https://brendafleming.com/blog/2022/1/19/photo-essay-trinity-site
  95. Rhodes 1986, p. 656.
  96. The New Atlantis
    https://web.archive.org/web/20160303233937/http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/edward-teller-rip
  97. Rhodes 1986, p. 668.
  98. Rhodes 1986, p. 677.
  99. "The atomic bomb test for 'Fat Man' – Hans Bethe"
    https://www.webofstories.com/play/hans.bethe/95
  100. Rhodes 1986, p. 664.
  101. The Washington Post
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2023/07/22/oppenheimer-manhattan-project-history-atomic-bomb-test/
  102. Hamming 1998, pp. 640–650.
  103. "Report LA-602, Ignition of the Atmosphere With Nuclear Bombs"
    https://fas.org/sgp/othergov/doe/lanl/docs1/00329010.pdf
  104. Bethe 1991, p. 30.
  105. Lamont 1966, p. 197.
  106. Bainbridge 1975, p. 44.
  107. Hoddeson et al. 1993, p. 364.
  108. Los Alamos: Beginning of an Era, 1943–1945
    http://atomicarchive.com/Docs/pdfs/00285808.pdf
  109. Norris 2002, p. 404.
  110. Dvorak 2013, pp. 11–13.
  111. Gutenberg 1946, pp. 327–330.
  112. Nuclear Technology
    https://arxiv.org/abs/2103.06258
  113. Parekh et al. 2006, pp. 103–120.
  114. Nuclear Weapons Journal
    https://www.lanl.gov/orgs/padwp/pdfs/11nwj2-05.pdf
  115. Smyth 1945, pp. 247–254.
  116. "Ralph Smith's eyewitness account of the Trinity trip to watch blast"
    https://web.archive.org/web/20140904084107/http://www.wsmr.army.mil/PAO/Trinity/Pages/RalphSmithseyewitnessaccountoftheTrinitytriptowatchblast.aspx
  117. Their Day in the Sun: Women of the Manhattan Project
    https://books.google.com/books?id=Ys0N4rFgt6UC&pg=PA51
  118. The History and Science of the Manhattan Project
    https://books.google.com/books?id=YtaIDwAAQBAJ&q=%22The+long-hairs+have+let+it+get+away+from+them!%22&pg=PA351
  119. "Chronology on Decision to Bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki"
    https://web.archive.org/web/20090827103545/http://www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/key-issues/nuclear-weapons/history/pre-cold-war/hiroshima-nagasaki/decision-drop-bomb-chronology.htm
  120. Groves 1962, pp. 325–326.
  121. Jones 1985, p. 554.
  122. Laurence 1946, p. 14.
  123. Monk 2012, pp. 456–457.
  124. Gita Supersite by Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
    https://www.gitasupersite.iitk.ac.in/srimad?language=dv&field_chapter_value=11&field_nsutra_value=12&choose=1
  125. "J. Robert Oppenheimer on the Trinity test (1965)"
    https://www.atomicarchive.com/media/videos/oppenheimer.html
  126. "Chapter 11. The Universal Form, text 32"
    https://www.asitis.com/11/32.html
  127. Time
    http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,853367-8,00.html
  128. Jungk 1958, p. 201.
  129. Hijiya 2000, pp. 123–124.
  130. "The Trinity Test: Eyewitnesses"
    https://web.archive.org/web/20051018112209/http://larrycalloway.com/historic.html?_recordnum=105
  131. Widner 2009, pp. 10–24.
  132. Hoddeson et al. 1993, p. 376.
  133. Hoddeson et al. 1993, p. 359.
  134. Hoddeson et al. 1993, pp. 375–376.
  135. "Trinity Test, July 16, 1945, Eyewitness Accounts – Enrico Fermi"
    http://www.dannen.com/decision/fermi.html
  136. "Chapter 3 Effects of Nuclear Explosions Section I – General"
    https://fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/doctrine/dod/fm8-9/1ch3.htm
  137. "Nuclear Events and Their Consequences". Borden Institute. "... approximately 82% of the fission energy is released as k
    https://web.archive.org/web/20170125171152/https://ke.army.mil/bordeninstitute/published_volumes/nuclearwarfare/chapter1/chapter1.pdf
  138. "Nuclear Engineering Overview"
    https://web.archive.org/web/20180515201022/http://www.oektg.at/wp-content/uploads/02-Nuclear-Engineering-Overview1.pdf
  139. Widner 2009, pp. 10–25.
  140. Hoddeson et al. 1993, p. 375.
  141. Hoddeson et al. 1993, pp. 354–355.
  142. "Fact Sheet – Operation Trinity"
    https://web.archive.org/web/20141125082310/http://www.dtra.mil/docs/documents-ntpr-factsheets/trinity---2014.pdf?sfvrsn=0
  143. "The Fat Man's uranium"
    http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2014/11/10/fat-mans-uranium/
  144. Hoddeson et al. 1993, p. 374.
  145. Reassessment of the Atomic Bomb Radiation Dosimetry for Hiroshima and Nagasaki
    http://www.rerf.jp/shared/ds02/index.html
  146. Hoddeson et al. 1993, p. 377.
  147. Clovis News-Journal
    https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3985915//
  148. Norris 2002, p. 407.
  149. Sweeney 2001, pp. 205–206.
  150. Laurence 1970, pp. 39–41.
  151. "Weekly Document #1: Trinity test press releases (May 1945)"
    http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2011/11/10/weekly-document-01/
  152. El Paso Herald-Post
    https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3985966//
  153. Smyth 1945, pp. vii–viii, 138–139, 247–254.
  154. Jones 1985, p. 517.
  155. Alperovitz 1996, p. 240.
  156. Jones 1985, p. 518.
  157. Sherwin 1987, p. 308.
  158. Annals of the ICRP
    http://www.icrp.org/docs/The%20History%20of%20ICRP%20and%20the%20Evolution%20of%20its%20Policies.pdf
  159. "Trinity Test Downwinders"
    https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/trinity-test-downwinders.htm
  160. Hacker 1987, pp. 99–101.
  161. Time
    http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,854500-2,00.html
  162. "Interim Report of CDC'S LAHDRA Project– Appendix N. pp. 17, 23, 37"
    https://web.archive.org/web/20140317164653/http://www.lahdra.org/reports/LAHDRA%20Report%20v5%202007_App%20N_Trinity%20Test.pdf
  163. Mass burns: proceedings of a workshop, 13–14 March 1968
    https://books.google.com/books?id=sDQrAAAAYAAJ&q=%22beta+burns%22&pg=PA248
  164. Hacker 1987, p. 105.
  165. Szasz 1984, p. 134.
  166. "Study to Estimate Radiation Doses and Cancer Risks Resulting from Exposure to Radioactive Fallout from the Trinity Nuclear Test"
    https://dceg.cancer.gov/research/how-we-study/exposure-assessment/trinity
  167. Bouville et al. 2020, p. 405.
  168. Colorado Newsline
    https://coloradonewsline.com/2024/03/07/reca-expansion-passes-u-s-senate/
  169. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
    https://www.ieer.org/latest/iodnart.html
  170. "Oak Ridge's Merril Eisenbud – Hiroshima, the Trinity Test, Nuclear Weapons"
    https://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/hiroshimatrinity/kodakfilm.htm
  171. "Trinity Site Monument"
    http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/trinity/g6_p1.shtml
  172. "White Sands Missile Range > Trinity Site > Radioactivity"
    https://web.archive.org/web/20220316003530/https://www.wsmr.army.mil/Trinity/Pages/RadiationatGroundZeroJusthowradioactiveisthesite.aspx
  173. "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Trinity Site"
    https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/66000493_text
  174. "Trinity Site National Historic Landmark"
    http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/trinity/landmark.shtml
  175. "Trinity Atomic Website: Jumbo"
    https://web.archive.org/web/20130215085732/http://www.cddc.vt.edu/host/atomic/trinity/trinity50_7.html
  176. Angelo 2004, p. 601.
  177. "Chronology: Cowboys to V-2s to the Space Shuttle to lasers"
    https://web.archive.org/web/20141013081400/http://www.wsmr.army.mil/PAO/WSHist/Pages/ChronologyCowboystoV2stotheSpaceShuttletolasers.aspx
  178. "Trinity Site"
    https://web.archive.org/web/20150712030052/http://www.wsmr.army.mil/PAO/Trinity/Pages/default.aspx
  179. "WSMR Release 36 – Trinity Site Open House now open twice a year"
    https://web.archive.org/web/20150713065933/http://www.wsmr.army.mil/News%20Releases/WSMR%20Release%2036%20-Trinity%20Site%20Open%20House%20now%20open%20twice%20a%20year.pdf
  180. Fielding, Raymond, The March of Time, 1935–1951. New York: Oxford University Press 1978 hardcover ISBN 0-19-502212-2
  181. The Beginning or the End
    https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/1531/the-beginning-or-the-end/#overview
  182. The National Museum of Nuclear Science and History
    https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/history/manhattan-project-popular-culture/
  183. BBC Genome Project
    https://web.archive.org/web/20240121034118/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?filt=p0g3j9cp#top
  184. The New York Times
    https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/27/movies/day-after-trinity-oppenheimer-documentary.html
  185. Kunk, Deborah J. – "'Fat Man' Brings Bomb Alive". St. Paul Pioneer Press. October 20, 1989.
  186. Rotten Tomatoes
    https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/trinity-and-beyond
  187. The New York Times
    https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/28/arts/television/the-bomb-helps-return-nukes-to-the-tv-spotlight.html
  188. IndieWire
    https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/shows/twin-peaks-2017-review-episode-8-part-8-season-3-david-lynch-showtime-spoilers-recap-1201847015/
  189. Vulture
    https://www.vulture.com/2017/06/twin-peaks-the-return-part-8-atom-bomb-flashback.html
  190. W Magazine
    https://www.wmagazine.com/story/twin-peaks-showtime-recap-episode-part-8
  191. Entertainment Weekly
    https://ew.com/movies/oppenheimer-christopher-nolan-atomic-bomb-recreation/
Image
Source: —
Tip: Wheel or +/− to zoom, drag to pan, Esc to close.