The mushroom cloud from the Mike shot. A mushroom cloud is a distinctive Mushroom -shaped Cloud of condensed Water vapor or Debris resulting from a very large Explosion.

Ivy Mike was the codename given to the first US test of a fusion device where a major part of the explosive yield came from fusion. In Physics and Nuclear chemistry, nuclear fusion is the process by which multiple- like charged atomic nuclei join together to form a heavier nucleus It was detonated on November 1, 1952 by the United States at 11°40′15″N 162°11′53″E / 11.6709, 162.198 on Enewetak, an atoll in the Pacific Ocean, as part of Operation Ivy. Events 996 - Emperor Otto III issues a deed to Gottschalk Bishop of Freising which is the oldest known document using the name Ostarrîchi Year 1952 ( MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Enewetak (or Eniwetok) is an Atoll in the Marshall Islands of the central Pacific Ocean. An atoll (pronounced /ˈætʌl/ is an island of Coral that encircles a Lagoon partially or completely Operation Ivy was the eighth series of American nuclear tests, coming after Tumbler-Snapper and before Upshot-Knothole. The device was the first full test of the Teller-Ulam design, a staged fusion bomb, and is generally considered the first successful test of a hydrogen bomb. The Teller–Ulam design is a Nuclear weapon design which is used in Megaton -range Thermonuclear weapons and is more colloquially referred to as "the Nuclear weapon designs are physical chemical and engineering arrangements that cause the physics package of a nuclear weapon to detonate Due to its physical size and fusion fuel type (cryogenic liquid deuterium) the Mike device was not suitable for use as a thermonuclear weapon; it was intended as an extremely conservative experiment to validate the concepts used for multi-megaton detonations. Cryogenics is often used incorrectly to refer to Cryonics, cryopreserving humans or animals Deuterium, also called heavy hydrogen, is a Stable isotope of Hydrogen with a Natural abundance in the Oceans of Earth Nuclear weapon designs are physical chemical and engineering arrangements that cause the physics package of a nuclear weapon to detonate A simplified and lightened bomb version (the EC-16) was prepared, and scheduled to be tested in operation Castle Yankee, as a backup in case the non-cryogenic "Shrimp" fusion device (tested in Castle Bravo) failed to work; that test was cancelled when the Bravo device was tested successfully, making the cryogenic designs obsolete. The Mark 16 nuclear bomb was a large Thermonuclear bomb, based on the design of the Ivy Mike, the first hydrogen bomb test fired Castle Yankee was the code name given to one of the tests in the Operation Castle series of American nuclear tests. Castle Bravo was the Code name given to the first US test of a so-called dry fuel thermonuclear Hydrogen bomb device detonated on March 1,

Device design and preparations

A view of the Sausage device casing, with its diagnostic and cryogenic equipment attached. The long pipes would receive the first bits of radiation from the primary and secondary ("Teller light") just as the device was detonated. Note man seated lower right for scale.

The "John", a 62 ton device, was essentially a building that resembled a factory rather than a weapon. It has been reported that Russian engineers derisively referred to Mike as a "thermonuclear installation". ^[1] At its center, a very large cylindrical thermos flask or cryostat, held the cryogenic deuterium fusion fuel. A Cryostat (cryo=cold and stat=stable is a vessel similar in construction to a Vacuum flask, or Dewar used to maintain cold Cryogenic temperatures A regular fission bomb (the "primary") at one end was used to create the conditions needed to initiate the fusion reaction. Nuclear fission is the splitting of the nucleus of an atom into parts (lighter nuclei) often producing Free neutrons and other smaller nuclei which may

The device was designed by Richard Garwin, a student of Enrico Fermi's, on the suggestion of Edward Teller. Richard Lawrence Garwin (born April 19, 1928 in Cleveland Ohio) is an American Physicist. Edward Teller (original Hungarian name Teller Ede) (January 15 1908 &ndash September 9 2003 was a Hungarian -American theoretical Physicist It had been decided that nothing other than a full-scale test would validate the idea of the Teller-Ulam design, and Garwin was instructed to use very conservative estimates when designing the test, and that it need not be deployable. The Teller–Ulam design is a Nuclear weapon design which is used in Megaton -range Thermonuclear weapons and is more colloquially referred to as "the ^[2] (That is, it need not be small, light, and sturdy enough to be carried by an airplane and dropped on a target. )

The primary stage was a TX-5 boosted fission bomb in a separate space atop the assembly (so it would not freeze, rendering it inoperable). The "secondary" fusion stage used liquid deuterium despite the difficulty of handling this material, because this fuel simplified the experiment, and made the results easier to analyze. Running down the center of the flask which held it was a cylindrical rod of plutonium (the "sparkplug") to ignite the fusion reaction. Surrounding this assembly was a five-ton (4. 5 tonne) natural uranium "tamper". Uranium (jʊˈreɪniəm is a silvery-gray Metallic Chemical element in the The interior of the tamper was lined with sheets of lead and polyethylene foam, which formed a radiation channel to conduct X-rays from the primary to secondary. Characteristics Lead has a dull luster and is a dense, Ductile, very soft highly Polyethylene or polythene ( IUPAC name poly(ethene) is a Thermoplastic commodity heavily used in consumer products (notably the Radiation, as in Physics, is Energy in the form of waves or moving Subatomic particles emitted by an atom or other body as it changes from a higher energy X-radiation (composed of X-rays) is a form of Electromagnetic radiation. (The function of X-rays was to hydrodynamically compress the secondary, increasing the density and temperature of the deuterium to the levels needed to sustain the thermonuclear reaction, and compressing the sparkplug to supercriticality ignition. A critical mass is the smallest amount of Fissile material needed for a sustained Nuclear chain reaction. ) The outermost layer was a steel casing 10-12 inches (25-30 cm) thick. The entire assembly, nicknamed "Sausage", measured 80 inches (2. 03 m) in diameter and 244 inches (6. 19 m) in height and weighed about 60 tons (54 tonnes).

The entire Mike device (including cryogenic equipment) weighed 82 tons (73. 8 tonnes), and was housed in a large corrugated-aluminium building called a "shot cab" which was set up on the Pacific island of Elugelab, part of the Enewetak atoll. Elugelab Island (or Elugelap was part of the Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands before it was vaporized by the very first test of the Hydrogen bomb Enewetak (or Eniwetok) is an Atoll in the Marshall Islands of the central Pacific Ocean.

A 9,000-foot (2. 7 km) artificial causeway connected the islands of Elugelab, Teiter, Bogairikk, and Bogon. Atop this causeway was an aluminium-sheathed plywood tube (named a "Krause-Ogle box") filled with helium ballonets. WikipediaNaming Plywood is a type of Engineered board made from thin sheets of Wood, called plies or veneers Helium ( He) is a colorless odorless tasteless non-toxic Inert Monatomic Chemical Ballonets are air-filled bags that are located inside the envelope of an Airship. This allowed gamma and neutron radiation to pass uninhibited to an unmanned detection station housed in a bunker on Bogon. Gamma (uppercase &Gamma, lowercase γ Γάμμα is the third letter of the Greek alphabet. This article is a discussion of neutrons in general For the specific case of a neutron found outside the nucleus see Free neutron. Radiation, as in Physics, is Energy in the form of waves or moving Subatomic particles emitted by an atom or other body as it changes from a higher energy

In total, 9,350 military and 2,300 civilian personnel were involved in the Mike shot. A large cryogenics plant was installed on Parry Island, at the South end of the Eniwetak atoll, to produce the liquid hydrogen (used for cooling the device) and deuterium needed for the test.

Detonation

Enewetak Atoll, before Mike shot. Note island of Elugelab on left.

Enewetak Atoll, after Mike shot. Note crater on left.

The test was carried out at 0715 local time on November 1, 1952; it produced a yield of 10. Events 996 - Emperor Otto III issues a deed to Gottschalk Bishop of Freising which is the oldest known document using the name Ostarrîchi Year 1952 ( MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. 4 megatons. However, 77% of the final yield came from fast fission of the uranium tamper, which meant that the device produced large amounts of fallout. Fast fission is fission that occurs when a heavy Atom absorbs a high-energy Neutron, called a Fast neutron, and splits Fallout is the residual radiation hazard from a Nuclear explosion, so named because it "falls out" of the atmosphere into which it is spread during the explosion

The fireball was over 3 miles (5 km) wide, and the mushroom cloud rose to an altitude of 57,000 feet (17. 0 km) in less than 90 seconds. One minute later it had reached 108,000 feet (33. 0 km), before stabilizing at 120,000 feet (37. 0 km) with the top eventually spreading out to a diameter of 100 miles (161 km) with a stem 20 miles (32 km) wide.

The blast created a crater 6,240 feet (1. 9 km) in diameter and 164 feet (50 m) deep where Elugelab had once been;^[3] the blast and water waves from the explosion (some waves up to twenty feet high) stripped the test islands clean of vegetation, as observed by a helicopter survey within 60 minutes after the test, by which time the mushroom cloud and steam had been blown away. Irradiated coral debris fell upon ships stationed 30 miles (48 km) from the blast, and the immediate area around the atoll was heavily contaminated for some time.

The entire shot was documented by the filmmakers of Lookout Mountain studios. The Lookout Mountain Air Force Station (LMAFS located on Wonderland Avenue Los Angeles, California, provided in-service production of classified motion picture and The film was accompanied by powerful, Wagner-esque music featured on many test films of that period and was hosted by actor Reed Hadley. Reed Hadley ( June 25, 1911 &ndash December 11, 1974) was an American Movie, Television and Radio After the test a private screening was given to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (October 14 1890 – March 28 1969 was President of the United States from 1953 until 1961 and a five-star general It was later released to the public after censoring, and was for many days played continually on many television channels.

Edward Teller, who was perhaps the most ardent supporter of the development of the hydrogen bomb, was in Berkeley, California, at the time of the shot. Edward Teller (original Hungarian name Teller Ede) (January 15 1908 &ndash September 9 2003 was a Hungarian -American theoretical Physicist Berkeley is a city on the east shore of San Francisco Bay in Northern California, in the United States. He was able to receive first notice that the test was successful by observing a seismometer, which picked up the shock wave travelling through the earth all the way from the South Pacific test site. Seismometers (from Greek Seism - "the shakes" - and Metro - "I measure" are instruments that measure and record motions of the ground including For the music album by Converter see Shock Front For the 1977 horror film see Shock Waves A shock wave (also called ^[4] In his memoirs, Teller wrote that he immediately sent an unclassified telegram to his colleagues at Los Alamos which contained only the words—for security purposes—"It's a boy. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL (previously known at various times as Site Y, Los Alamos Laboratory, and Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory) is a "^[5]

See also

• Enewetak
• History of nuclear weapons
• Ivy King
• Operation Castle

External links

• Downloadable/Streamable Declassified Film: Operation IVY (1 hour originally Secret version, 1953) at the Internet Archive
• Operation Ivy film (27 minutes unclassified civil defence version, 1953)
• Operation Ivy
• Video of the Ivy Mike test

References

• Chuck Hansen, U. Enewetak (or Eniwetok) is an Atoll in the Marshall Islands of the central Pacific Ocean. The history of nuclear weapons chronicles the development of Nuclear weapons. Ivy King was the largest pure fission nuclear bomb ever tested by the United States Operation Castle was a United States series of high-energy (high- yield) Nuclear tests by Joint Task Force SEVEN (JTF-7 at Bikini Atoll beginning S. Nuclear Weapons: The Secret History (Arlington: AeroFax, 1988)
• Richard Rhodes, Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995)

1. ^ Herken, Gregg: "Brotherhood Of The Bomb", notes for chapter 14 - #4. Henry Holt & Co. 2002. Notes available online at brotherhoodofthebomb. com
2. ^ Edward Teller, Memoirs: A Twentieth-Century Journey in Science and Politics (Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing, 2001), 327.
3. ^ Nuclear Weapon Archive
4. ^ Rhodes, Richard (1995). Richard Lee Rhodes (b July 4, 1937) is an American journalist historian and author of both fiction and non-fiction (which he prefers to call "verity" Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-80400-X
5. ^ Teller, Memoirs, 352.