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Wednesday 13 March 2019

Remastered footage of the first ever atomic bomb: US military's Manhattan Project ushered in the nuclear age with the 'Trinity' test explosion in 1945 (14 Pics)

Incredible remastered footage has been released showing the moment the world's first ever nuclear bomb was detonated.
The 'Trinity' test on 5:29am MT (11:29am GMT) July 16, 1945 was the culmination of years of work by the famed Manhattan Project and ushered into existence the nuclear era when the plutonium bomb, dubbed 'Gadget', exploded in the Jornada del Muerto desert.
Footage released by YouTube site AtomCentral shows it in unprecedented clarity after the removal of dirt and scratches minimised defects in the processing of the original negative. 
The explosion was equivalent to 18.6 kilotons of TNT (78 TJ) and was the predecessor to the Fat Man bomb dropped over Nagasaki, Japan, on August 9, 1945 - killing more than 40,000 people.
The 'Trinity' test on 5:29am July 16, 1945 was the culmination of years of work by the famed Manhattan project and ushered into existence the nuclear era
Footage released by YouTube site AtomCentral shows the detonation in unprecedented clarity due to the removal of dirt and scratched in order to minimise defects in the processing of the original negative
The Trinity test involved a bomb referred to as 'Gadget' (pictured). It was detonated successfully and laid the foundations for the rest of the US Manhattan Project which resulted in the only two times a nuclear weapon has been used when descendants of this device were used to destroy Nagasaki and Hiroshima 
The site was originally the USAAF Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range and was converted into a site for the detonation by the US military. 
A mushroom cloud erupted from Gadget after it was detonated and plumed into the air, creating the iconic image synonymous with nuclear warfare. 
The cloud then rapidly expands with the raw energy created by the nuclear fission chain reaction. 
Onlookers to the ground-breaking event included notable scientists Enrico Fermi, Richard Feynman and Robert Oppenheimer.  
YouTuber, AtomCentral, recently also released footage of 1953 nuclear tests in Nevada. 
These included videos showing how a 15-kiloton Grable bomb blast can strip the paint off cars.
The video came from the Federal Civil Defense Administration's Upshot-Knothole nuclear test series. 
A mushroom cloud erupted from Gadget after it was detonated and plumed into the air, creating the iconic image synonymous with nuclear warfare
The cloud then rapidly expands with the raw energy created by the nuclear fission chain reaction. Onlookers to the ground-breaking event included notable scientists Enrico Fermi, Richard Feynman and Robert Oppenheimer

HOW DID THE FIRST EVER ATOM BOMB DUBBED 'GADGET' WORK?

A core of plutonium is surrounded by charges and uranium 

The device was an implosion-design plutonium fission device, which means a core of the radioactive material is surrounded by Uranium-238 and explosive detonators.  
When these detonators are triggered a charge send shock-waves directed at the sub-critical plutonium - which is relatively stable. 
The uranium acts as a reflector/tamper to guide the reaction. 
The force of the explosions compress the plutonium core and force it together, increasing its density. 
This then pushes the radioactive material past the point of no return - dubbed its 'critical mass'.
Once this happens, a chain reaction of nuclear fission occurs which released enormous amounts of energy when stray subatomic particles split the large plutonium atoms.
It is believed only a fifth of the material underwent fission and the rest was scattered.  
This chain reaction lasts for mere nanoseconds but unleashes an incredible amount of energy. 
YouTuber, AtomCentral, recently also released footage of 1953 nuclear tests in Nevada. These included videos showing how a 15-kiloton Grable bomb blast can strip the paint off cars
The explosion was equivalent to 18.6 kilotons of TNT (78 TJ) and was the predecessor to the Fat Man bomb dropped over Nagasaki, Japan, on August 9, 1945 - killing more than 40,000 people
Onlookers to the ground-breaking event included notable scientists Enrico Fermi, Richard Feynman and Robert Oppenheimer
Future tests would go on to be done in nevada and the US military conducted nearly 1,000. To date, the US is the only nation in the world to use nuclear weapons against a foreign enemy
The Trinity test laid the groundwork for The atomic bombs dropped on the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II killed 135,000 people
Louis Slotin and Herbert Lehr with the Gadget prior to insertion of the tamper plug (visible in front of Lehr’s left knee). Two halves of the plug were held together with uranium washers and screws which fit smoothly into the domed ends of the plug
For the test, the Gadget was lifted to the top of a 100-foot (30 m) bomb tower (pictured) It is believed that during preliminary tests one strap holding the bomb snapped, leaving the dangerous bomb dangling precariously before it was successfully reattached  
The footage shows the aftermath of four separate 32-kiloton blasts from an atomic bomb later nicknamed 'Dirty Harry.'
Three clips show the moment the heat blast from the bombs melted the paint on three separate automobiles, including two classic sedans and a bus.
Moments later the vehicles are blown away by the bomb's shockwave.
A fourth clip shows an empty tent bursting into flames before being obliterated. 
Deseret News called the nuclear trials 'tragic and insane,' in a 1953 editorial, but said the tests were necessary in the atomic Cold War era, the New York Times reported.
'So long as we live in an atomic world, we must and will continue to learn more about this power and how to survive it,' the paper's editors once rationalised. 
To date, the US is the only nation in the world to use nuclear weapons against a foreign enemy.
The atomic bombs dropped on the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II killed 135,000 people.
The plutonium bomb, dubbed 'Gadget' exploded in the Jornada del Muerto desert, translated loosely from Spanish, historically referring to the 'Journey of the Dead Man', the desert region the Conquistadors had to cross to make it from Las Cruces to Socorro, New Mexico

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