![]() And there was another effect that hadn’t been predicted accurately. ![]() The EMP had been predicted by scientists, but the Starfish Prime pulse was far larger than expected. Other effects included electrical surges on airplanes and radio blackouts. The strength of the pulse was so huge that it affected the flow of electricity on the Earth hundreds of kilometers away! In Hawaii it blew out hundreds of streetlights, and caused widespread telephone outages. This is called an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP. When that happens they create a brief but extremely powerful magnetic field. When the bomb detonated, those electrons underwent incredible acceleration. Taking the Pulse of a Nuclear Weaponīut the effects were far more than a simple light show. The feathery filament is from the bomb debris, while the red glow may be due to glowing oxygen atoms this tends to be from atoms higher than 100 km, so the glow is probably due to the heavy ions impacting our air. The image here shows this glow as seen by an airplane moments after the nuclear explosion. Heavy ions (atoms stripped of electrons) are also created in the blast, and get absorbed somewhat higher up in the atmosphere. Those atoms and molecules absorbed the energy of the electrons and responded by glowing, creating an artificial aurora. At a height of roughly 50-100 kilometers they were stopped by the atoms and molecules of Earth’s atmosphere. A moving electron is affected by a magnetic field, so these electrons actually flowed quickly along the Earth’s magnetic field lines and were dropped into the upper atmosphere. ![]() Electrons are lightweight and travel rapidly away from the explosion. One immediate effect of the blast was a huge aurora seen for thousands of kilometers around. Defense Threat Reduction Agency via Wikimedia Commons) Photograph of the Starfish Prime high-altitude nuclear test explosion in course of Operation Dominic on July 9, 1962. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |