Only two
things scare me and one of them is nuclear war.
I've become obsessed with watching atom bomb test footage on the Internet.
Along with satellite photography of hurricanes, few things in this world can
both stun me with their beauty and horrify me with their power like the
rising mushroom cloud of detonated nuke. In concept, they are just such an
outlandish weapon. It takes a special kind of stupid to create the means to
your own demise, but damn if we didn't do it anyway.
For this week's K-Files, I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite
archival video that I've come across in my travels. So sit back and marvel at
the shocking elegance...
The Nuclear Cannon
http://youtube.com/watch?v=oBIYLG8XMOc
This one is a personal favorite of mine.
It starts out simple enough: you see a kind of large artillery cannon
pointing downrange to an open expanse of desert. It fires what looks to be a
normal ballistic shell, but after a few seconds, there is still no explosion
in the distance. Suddenly, definitely not the small plume of smoke you would
expect from such a weapon, there's a blinding flash and friggen mushroom
cloud begins to rise triumphantly into the atmosphere.
The effects of the blast are then shown on some vehicles and trees, which are
blown away like paper by the explosion's shock-wave. It's nothing short of
terrifying that such destruction was launched in such a minuscule package by
such a mundane delivery method.
The Tsar Bomba
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Pu88gb1EpmI&feature=related
Leave it to the Russians to detonate the largest man-made bomb of all time.
Atomic weapons aren't just a bomb, they
are the bomb...and the Tsar Bomba is the
king of them all. Designed yield an explosive force of 100 megatons of TNT,
the final product weighed in at a slightly less epic 50 megatons.
The fireball and mushroom cloud were almost unfathomably large. According to Wikipedia,
the initial fireball, with a center around 4000 meters high, nearly reached
the altitude of the plane that dropped it. Even more frightening, the cloud
rose to over 60 km high--more than 7 times the height of Mount Everest. The
detonation was so powerful, the shock-wave was still powerful enough to
shatter windows hundreds of miles away in Finland.
It's an awe-inspiring, if not terrifying, video and the ultimate example of
the outrageousness of atomic weapons.
Crossroads Baker
http://youtube.com/watch?v=__RNllbGDj8&feature=related
This is definitely one of the more famous atomic bomb videos. Detonated
underwater, it was designed to test the effects an atomic explosion would
have on a naval fleet. As can be seen in the video, the effects are catastrophic.
Unlike the usual explosion of fire and wind, Baker is unique in that the
massive plume of the bomb is made of seawater--shot into the air evaporated
by the intense heat of the detonation.
I've tried to imagine what it would be like to be standing on the deck of one
of the ships that can be seen at the base of the explosion. Assuming you
somehow managed to survive the initial blast without being thrown away like a
leaf, you would be faced with a massive wall of water completely filling your
field of vision. *shudder*
Operation Dominic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joupmq4e2eM&feature=related
By the time of the high-altitude, thermonuclear tests of Operation Dominic,
the US and Soviet Union were performing hundreds of detonations. God only
knows how many cases of cancer can be traced to the radioactive material
these tests threw into the atmosphere.
In this particular explosion, the high-altitude fireball takes on a different
look than the stereotypical mushroom cloud. Growing down from underneath
appears to be an almost organic-like stem as the red and orange dome writhes
in fury upwards. Towards the end of the video, what almost looks like a
tornado reaches up from the ground to meet the explosion.
As destructive as it may be, its beauty is undeniable.
Project Cannikin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp6aZIhHiRE&feature=related
This last video is different from the rest, as the bomb was detonated
completely underground. Although there's no massive fireball and shock-wave
throwing everything about, its effects are no less devastating.
Far more destructive looking than any normal earthquake footage you may have
seen, the way the explosion causes the ground to ripple and collapse is a
testament to the power of even a relatively small 5 megaton blast. It was so
powerful, in fact, that the mile-wide crater it formed turned into a large
lake after it filled with water.
Alright then, that's all for this week's K-Files. I hope you all enjoyed
watching the video selection as I had finding them.
