The test site, named the White Sands Proving Ground, was built in the Jornada del Muerto (route of the dead man) desert. The good news for today is — we haven’t blown ourselves to kingdom-come just yet.
The Trinity Test, July 16, 1945:
At 05:29:21 (plus or minus 2 seconds) local time (Mountain War Time), the device exploded with an energy equivalent to around 20 kilotons of TNT (84 TJ). It left a crater of radioactive glass in the desert 10 feet (3.0 m) deep and 1,100 feet (340 m) wide. At the time of detonation, the surrounding mountains were illuminated “brighter than daytime” for one to two seconds, and the heat was reported as “being as hot as an oven” at the base camp. The observed colors of the illumination ranged from purple to green and eventually to white. The roar of the shock wave took 40 seconds to reach the observers. The shock wave was felt over 100 miles (160 km) away, and the mushroom cloud reached 7.5 miles (12.1 km) in height. After the initial euphoria of witnessing the explosion had passed, test director Kenneth Bainbridge commented to Los Alamos director J. Robert Oppenheimer, Now we are all sons of bitches. Oppenheimer later stated that, while watching the test, he was reminded of a line from the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu scripture: Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds. — wikipedia
Atomic Flash Deluxe 
Well, given my Gravatar I use, it would only be appropriate for me to leave a comment on this post… so here it is!
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Evilsquirrel approves the great mushroom cloud. *heh*
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Another atomically great post !
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Ooph, I first read that as ‘another anatomically great post!’ *heh!*
Thanks much Chris. The Atomic Age never really ended – and it won’t as long as we have all of those missiles and bombs scattered about. These posts are a (not-so-subtle) way of reminding people that they do exist.
I’m a bit frustrated though as wordpress doesn’t seem to have very many other bloggers that I can network with who are interested in the era. The few folks I’ve found who have a regard for vintage/mid-century culture are really super and post some really top stuffs, but I find that blogspot has a plethora of bloggers that cover the era from so many different angles. It’s kind of a quandary for me.
I guess that was a very long-winded way of saying that I really appreciate your encouragement and interest. It helps to know that the workz aren’t just being swallowed in some sort of interwebz blackhole. I feel that way for all the kind folks who follow this blog – you’re the tops! 😀
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I totally get that..
I like WordPress because it’s closer to being a blogging community, like the old Xanga was, instead of a community of bloggers. I know it sounds like a small difference, but it’s huge to me.
Your posts are always fascinating – I enjoy them immensely! 🙂
Cheers!
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My father worked for the AEC, which was the Atomic Energy Commission. I understand this post very well. We learned at a very early age about the effects of Nuclear energy.
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