WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: How Did Nuclear Weapons Testing Create New Minerals?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Lauren vogel Bomb in today's episode is another classic

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<v Speaker 1>from our podcast's archives. In this one, we talked about

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<v Speaker 1>a mineral that you could say is man made, but

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<v Speaker 1>it isn't produced in any lab or forge. It's trinotite,

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<v Speaker 1>the glass that was created when the first nuclear weapons

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<v Speaker 1>tests melted desert sand. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here.

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<v Speaker 1>It was theoretical physicist Jay Robert Oppenheimer who chose the

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<v Speaker 1>code named Trinity for his trial run of atomic weapons,

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<v Speaker 1>though he could never remember why. As a participant in

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<v Speaker 1>the Manhattan Project, he oversaw the construction of four atomic bombs.

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<v Speaker 1>By the spring of nineteen forty five, the U. S.

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<v Speaker 1>Military had started looking for a place to test one

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<v Speaker 1>of them. Out Sites in California, Colorado, and Texas were

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<v Speaker 1>considered before the Pentagon shows. A patch of terrain at

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<v Speaker 1>the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico is the

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<v Speaker 1>site of the Trinity Project. On July sixty five, at

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<v Speaker 1>five a m Mountain time, a plutonium bomb known simply

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<v Speaker 1>as the Gadget was detonated at the site. This marked

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<v Speaker 1>the first deployment of an atomic weapon in recorded history.

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<v Speaker 1>Within a month, the United States used two atomic bombs

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<v Speaker 1>to level both Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, helping bring

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<v Speaker 1>World War two to an end and sending a very

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<v Speaker 1>clear and violent message to other world powers. So began

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<v Speaker 1>the atomic age. Back in New Mexico, scientists discovered that

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<v Speaker 1>the explosion that had started at all left something behind.

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<v Speaker 1>Nuclear physicist Herbert L. Anderson and his driver inspected the

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<v Speaker 1>Trinity blast site shortly after the bomb detonated. Over the radio,

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<v Speaker 1>he announced that the area had turned all green. A

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<v Speaker 1>layer of small glassy beads covered the crater. Most were

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<v Speaker 1>all of green in color, though some samples were black

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<v Speaker 1>or reddish in hue. The substance is now known as trinitite.

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<v Speaker 1>Plenty of trinotite was still there in September ninety five,

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<v Speaker 1>when a Time magazine report described the crater as a

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<v Speaker 1>lake of green jade shaped like a splashy star. Physicists

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<v Speaker 1>realized that this trinitite was desert sand that had melted

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<v Speaker 1>down during the blast and then resolidified. Our understanding of

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<v Speaker 1>trinotite has changed recently. At first, scientists assumed that the

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<v Speaker 1>grains of sand that turned into this material had melted

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<v Speaker 1>at ground level, but a study found that the sand

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<v Speaker 1>was actually pulled up into the heart of the explosion,

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<v Speaker 1>where high temperatures liquefied it. The stuff later rained down, cooled,

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<v Speaker 1>and turned solid. There are no laws against buying or

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<v Speaker 1>selling trinotite samples that have already been collected, but it's

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<v Speaker 1>now illegal to remove the substance from the blast field.

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<v Speaker 1>You will find much of it on site anyway. America's

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<v Speaker 1>Atomic Energy Commission boldozed over the nuclear test site in

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen fifty three. In the process, a bounty of trinotite

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<v Speaker 1>was buried underground, and buyers beware, there's a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>phony trinotite on the market. Trinotite is indeed radioactive, however,

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<v Speaker 1>it's been deemed basically safe by a health physics survey.

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<v Speaker 1>So the glassy beads were snatched up in huge quantities

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<v Speaker 1>by souvenir hungry visitors to the site. Jewelry created with

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<v Speaker 1>trinotite was even made for the purpose of propaganda. These

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<v Speaker 1>kinds of glassy residues are left behind whenever nuclear weapons

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<v Speaker 1>go off at the ground level. They've been recovered in

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<v Speaker 1>the wake of atomic tests over such places as the

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<v Speaker 1>Algerian Desert, but the name trinotite is typically reserved for

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<v Speaker 1>specimens found at the original Trinity site at the White

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<v Speaker 1>Sands Missile Range. Some scientists prefer to call material found

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<v Speaker 1>in other parts of the world atom site. Today's episode

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<v Speaker 1>is based on the article Trinotite How the first nuclear

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<v Speaker 1>bomb turned sand to Glass on how stuff works dot Com,

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<v Speaker 1>written by Mark Mancini. Rain stuff It's production of by

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<v Speaker 1>Heart Radio in partnership with how Stuffworks dot Com and

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