|
|
| Fig. 1: This image depicts the formation of a nuclear mushroom cloud. (Source: Wikimedia Commons). |
On August 6th, 1945, the city of Hiroshima would never be the same. On a warm summer day, at around 8am, the city was hit with the first nuclear attack in world history leading to the witness of the new symbol for world destruction: the nuclear mushroom cloud.
Before the term was officially coined around the 1950s, the mushroom clouds were being formed by large explosions centuries before Hiroshima. An artist in the year 1782 during the Franco-Spanish attack on Gilbraltar had painted an image of what seemed to be a massive explosion looking like a mushroom of smoke. During events like Halifax Explosion of 1917 and multiple occurrences in WWII the mushroom cloud became more known, but it did become the symbol it is today until the USA unleashed their nuclear weapons onto Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
When examining a nuclear explosion, at the immediate area of detonation, there is an incredibly large amount of energy released per unit mass in a nuclear explosion. As well, instead of releasing kinetic energy, releases electromagnetic radiation. The radiation is then heated to an extreme temperature forming a hot, bright spherical mass of air and gas called a fireball. At formation, the fireball begins to grow rapidly and rise like a hot air balloon. Within a millisecond after detonation, the diameter of the fireball from a 1 megaton air burst is 150 m. This increases to a maximum of 2200 m within 10 seconds, at which time the fireball is also rising at the rate of 100 m/sec. [1]
After the fireball cools to a point where its thermal radiation is not significant anymore, the combination of upward movement and the cooled fireball start the formation of the mushroom cloud. At this point, following an air burst, condensed droplets of water give it a typical white cloudlike appearance. [1] The cloud could also appear dirty brown in the case of a an explosion on the Earth's surface as debris and dirt will be vaporized and sucked into the explosion.
In Fig 1, one can see the how the force of an explosion forms a nuclear cloud.
What does the mushroom cloud stand for? The idea of American patriotism or the presence of death and destruction? P. Rosenthal has dived deeper into the debate as she examines perspectives about the bomb during WWII:
Positive: In a general American stereotype, whether it is in movies or on the TV, the massive cloud is normally accompanied with proud voice-overs glorifying the bomb and how the bomb put America on top or was the conclusion of the war. Rosenthal documents views in agreement with that stereotypical view at a couple museums. At the National Atomic Museum in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a documentary of the rise of a mushroom cloud is played to dramatic victor music. At the US Air Force Museum in Dayton, she describes how a man who was stationed near Japan in the summer of 1945 and his thoughts when shown a nuclear mushroom cloud image. He responded very positively to the image and responded that it saved his life. [2]
Negative: To those of the antinuclear movement, the cloud represents death and a possible nuclear holocaust. Many individuals believe that the bomb's invention was a negative for the human race because we have a power too great to control. Individuals continue to say that these weapons, although powerful, are not worth the lives lost, and a nuclear war is not worth it and not survivable.[2]
The cloud is one that can be viewed as good or evil but in general, is always recognized as a form of military power. Whichever country can produce such force always has the upper hand.
In an ideal world, the bomb would not be needed but today, countries strive to gain military prowess so in time of need, they can protect themselves. It is difficult to know which side is correct on the view of the iconic nuclear cloud but one thing is for sure, the nuclear mushroom cloud is an icon of power.
© Brandon Lutnick. The author warrants that the work is the author's own and that Stanford University provided no input other than typesetting and referencing guidelines. The author grants permission to copy, distribute and display this work in unaltered form, with attribution to the author, for noncommercial purposes only. All other rights, including commercial rights, are reserved to the author.
[1] "NATO Handbook on the Medical Aspects of NBC Defensive Operations," U.S. Department of Defense, Army Field Manual FM 8-9, February 1996.
[2] P. Rosenthal, "The Nuclear Mushroom Cloud as Cultural Image," Am. Lit. Hist. 3, 63 (1991).
