1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:07,200 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:10,080 Speaker 1: I'm Lauren vogel Bomb in today's episode is another classic 3 00:00:10,119 --> 00:00:13,640 Speaker 1: from our podcast's archives. In this one, we talked about 4 00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:16,439 Speaker 1: a mineral that you could say is man made, but 5 00:00:16,520 --> 00:00:20,440 Speaker 1: it isn't produced in any lab or forge. It's trinotite, 6 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:23,759 Speaker 1: the glass that was created when the first nuclear weapons 7 00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:29,720 Speaker 1: tests melted desert sand. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here. 8 00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:33,559 Speaker 1: It was theoretical physicist Jay Robert Oppenheimer who chose the 9 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:36,239 Speaker 1: code named Trinity for his trial run of atomic weapons, 10 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:39,479 Speaker 1: though he could never remember why. As a participant in 11 00:00:39,479 --> 00:00:42,960 Speaker 1: the Manhattan Project, he oversaw the construction of four atomic bombs. 12 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:45,239 Speaker 1: By the spring of nineteen forty five, the U. S. 13 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:47,400 Speaker 1: Military had started looking for a place to test one 14 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:50,479 Speaker 1: of them. Out Sites in California, Colorado, and Texas were 15 00:00:50,479 --> 00:00:52,960 Speaker 1: considered before the Pentagon shows. A patch of terrain at 16 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:55,200 Speaker 1: the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico is the 17 00:00:55,240 --> 00:00:59,240 Speaker 1: site of the Trinity Project. On July sixty five, at 18 00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:02,920 Speaker 1: five a m Mountain time, a plutonium bomb known simply 19 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:06,040 Speaker 1: as the Gadget was detonated at the site. This marked 20 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:08,600 Speaker 1: the first deployment of an atomic weapon in recorded history. 21 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:11,560 Speaker 1: Within a month, the United States used two atomic bombs 22 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:14,760 Speaker 1: to level both Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, helping bring 23 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:16,959 Speaker 1: World War two to an end and sending a very 24 00:01:16,959 --> 00:01:20,280 Speaker 1: clear and violent message to other world powers. So began 25 00:01:20,319 --> 00:01:24,120 Speaker 1: the atomic age. Back in New Mexico, scientists discovered that 26 00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:26,880 Speaker 1: the explosion that had started at all left something behind. 27 00:01:27,319 --> 00:01:30,880 Speaker 1: Nuclear physicist Herbert L. Anderson and his driver inspected the 28 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:34,400 Speaker 1: Trinity blast site shortly after the bomb detonated. Over the radio, 29 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:37,399 Speaker 1: he announced that the area had turned all green. A 30 00:01:37,480 --> 00:01:40,800 Speaker 1: layer of small glassy beads covered the crater. Most were 31 00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:43,320 Speaker 1: all of green in color, though some samples were black 32 00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:46,920 Speaker 1: or reddish in hue. The substance is now known as trinitite. 33 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:50,480 Speaker 1: Plenty of trinotite was still there in September ninety five, 34 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:53,360 Speaker 1: when a Time magazine report described the crater as a 35 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:57,160 Speaker 1: lake of green jade shaped like a splashy star. Physicists 36 00:01:57,240 --> 00:02:00,360 Speaker 1: realized that this trinitite was desert sand that had melted 37 00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:04,080 Speaker 1: down during the blast and then resolidified. Our understanding of 38 00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:07,760 Speaker 1: trinotite has changed recently. At first, scientists assumed that the 39 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:10,440 Speaker 1: grains of sand that turned into this material had melted 40 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:13,480 Speaker 1: at ground level, but a study found that the sand 41 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:15,760 Speaker 1: was actually pulled up into the heart of the explosion, 42 00:02:15,919 --> 00:02:19,680 Speaker 1: where high temperatures liquefied it. The stuff later rained down, cooled, 43 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:23,079 Speaker 1: and turned solid. There are no laws against buying or 44 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:25,919 Speaker 1: selling trinotite samples that have already been collected, but it's 45 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:28,560 Speaker 1: now illegal to remove the substance from the blast field. 46 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:31,680 Speaker 1: You will find much of it on site anyway. America's 47 00:02:31,720 --> 00:02:34,520 Speaker 1: Atomic Energy Commission boldozed over the nuclear test site in 48 00:02:34,600 --> 00:02:37,840 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty three. In the process, a bounty of trinotite 49 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:40,959 Speaker 1: was buried underground, and buyers beware, there's a lot of 50 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:45,440 Speaker 1: phony trinotite on the market. Trinotite is indeed radioactive, however, 51 00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:48,240 Speaker 1: it's been deemed basically safe by a health physics survey. 52 00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:51,440 Speaker 1: So the glassy beads were snatched up in huge quantities 53 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:54,680 Speaker 1: by souvenir hungry visitors to the site. Jewelry created with 54 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:58,079 Speaker 1: trinotite was even made for the purpose of propaganda. These 55 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:01,240 Speaker 1: kinds of glassy residues are left behind whenever nuclear weapons 56 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: go off at the ground level. They've been recovered in 57 00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:05,840 Speaker 1: the wake of atomic tests over such places as the 58 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:09,280 Speaker 1: Algerian Desert, but the name trinotite is typically reserved for 59 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:12,000 Speaker 1: specimens found at the original Trinity site at the White 60 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:15,240 Speaker 1: Sands Missile Range. Some scientists prefer to call material found 61 00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:22,639 Speaker 1: in other parts of the world atom site. Today's episode 62 00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:25,400 Speaker 1: is based on the article Trinotite How the first nuclear 63 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:28,639 Speaker 1: bomb turned sand to Glass on how stuff works dot Com, 64 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:31,720 Speaker 1: written by Mark Mancini. Rain stuff It's production of by 65 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:34,040 Speaker 1: Heart Radio in partnership with how Stuffworks dot Com and 66 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:37,720 Speaker 1: is produced by Tyler Clay. Four more podcasts my Heart Radio, 67 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:40,600 Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 68 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:42,080 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.