ANALYSIS AND REPORT
The First Atomic Blast Over Water
by
Walter Graham
Physicist, Author of Playing With Cosmic Fire
and many other articles dealing with atomic physics
and the Bikini bomb tests.....
(This issue of Round Robin has been somewhat delayed, in order that we may present to our readers at least a synopsis of those parts of Mr. Graham's ANALYSIS, which time and other factors will not permit us to offer in full. No similar collocation of facts has been made accessible by any other publication. The exact wording of this article is necessarily our own, except where indicated by quotation marks, Ed.)
In spite of many statements made with an air of authority, it is possible, and indeed probable, that the first test explosion occurred at any altitude of between 8500 ft. and 2 miles - and the latter figure is the more likely one. The confusion in the reports of correspondents is understandable. "In the blinding flash of the explosion it was very difficult for any observer to spot even the approximate height of the explosion center, especially when most of them were 18 to 20 miles distant." All available data on the effects, and especially the absence of lateral pressure waves, and the Weak effect exerted on the water, indicate that the explosion took place at a high altitude.
The effect produced on the public mind has been, that the bomb was over-rated. But as a matter of fact they were extremely severe, considering the altitude of the detonation. Let us quote the report of Bob Considine, Staff writer of the International News Service, published in the Los Angeles Examiner of July 1, 1946:
"Catapult planes on the deck of the Nevada vanished completely, evidently vaporized ... some of the Nevada's superstructure also disappeared ... The whole forward section of the carrier Independence was turned into a snarl of twisted metal, and many yards of her flight deck were caved in, as tho some giant fist had punched the vessel ... Fighter planes aboard the Independence were melted into the inferno as flame swept the ship ... The Negato was later found to be heavily crippled. Fires broke out on the Nevada, the New York, the Saratoga, the Wilson, the transports and the oiler ... The superstructure of the Gilliam was blown off. Crippling havoc was inflicted on vessels along the edges of the formation. The Prinz Eugene, wrecked by the bomb, was more than a mile from the impact point ... The fires in the middle of the fleet began dying down about 3½ hrs. after the explosion, but those over a mile away continued to rage." Let us quote further:
L.A. Herald Express
July 1, 1946
"Weird Green Splash. Kwajalein, July 1. Scientists and observers alike were puzzling over a strange, unnaturally bright green splash in the Bikini lagoon, following the detonation of the bomb. This weird manifestation widened into a large oval of bubbling mass for several hours after the terrible weapon first burst ... No official comment as to [23] the possible cause was forthcoming. The splash of green appeared where two ships were believed to have been ... but it was thought that the green element and the greenish vapors were the manifestation of some new chemical reaction to atomic energy... Each passing hour brought fresh reports of destruction ... a recapitulation of the damage may require at least a month."
We have heretofore quoted in Round Robin the comments of Dr. Youger, a Professor of physics at Yale (broadcast of April 9, 1946). He stated, among other things, that a water level explosion might crack the crust of the earth in a volcanic and unstable area, and that the inrush of sea water might cause a titanic explosion, followed by volcanic and earthquake action, which in turn might produce a tidal wave a mile in height. Now comes Professor Anatol J. Sheideroy, seismologist of John Hopkins University, concurring in these opinions.
Prof. Sheideroy, in
L.A. Times, June 13;
L.A. Herald-Express
June 11
He "Expressed fears that the atom bomb might split the earth's crust ... that there may be no survivors to report the explosion, and that the climate of the world may be changed for decades. He computes the force necessary to crack the earth's outer shell 40 miles deep, into halves 3 meters apart (9.6')... the work units (ergs) run to 1 plus 28 zeros but the force of the bomb is equally fantastic (the smallest bomb), the figures being only 2 zeros less. The bomb used for this computation is the Hiroshima type; but it is proposed to use the Nagasaki type, twice as powerful, at Bikini."
Phil Garrison,
for L.A. Daily News,
July 1, 1946
Let us add another remarkable WARNING of a different type, from an eye-witness. "As the mushrooming pillar writhed and twisted skyward, in a multicolored manifestation of cosmic power, a thought hit me with sudden impact; The Thing is horribly alive: Like a threatening monster the monument to destruction seemed to fill the sky, flexing its shapeless wet symmetrical muscles, as it sounded an unearthly war cry heard even from the deck of the Appalachian, 20 miles away... It was and still is, as this is being written, an awesome sight. There is something obscene about such a naked display of devastating force. It taxes the comprehension of the human mind. The cosmic Frankenstein monster stretched to its full height of 12 miles on the horizon and mocked its human creators, causing in this observer an inexplicable feeling of revulsion. However, like a mob gazing into a snake pit, it is next to impossible to refrain from dumbly staring at it in hypnotic concentration. The sound, the shock waves, the blinding flash, to this observer at least, are all secondary to the frightful tower of flame, smoke, and gas in the sky."
"Even the physicist" (writes Mr. Graham) "cannot but be impressed by the feeling that these forces are satanic, evil and threatening... I earnestly believe that Satanic forces, concentrated evil forces are affecting the minds responsible for this dastardly test - urging them on to destroy their own kind from the entire earth as perhaps other races have done on planets now lifeless and incapable of supporting life ever again..."
Green Water,
Green Vapors
"What was the actual chemical effect on the waters below the center of the blast? If the neutron rays at surface or sub-surface are strong enough, slowed by the water and its hydrogen content, they will positively cause an [24] under-water explosion, not only of the atomic cores of the vases, but also of the cores of metals and other elements present in sea-water, including uranium itself. When pressure, electrical force and heat are great enough, the atomic cores of any form of matter will be crushed, resulting in a power 1000 times as great, for each pound of any material, as that in a pound of U compounds set off as a bomb - wherein the atomic cores are split and not crushed. U compounds such as plutonium, whose atoms are split, yield 11 million 400 thousand killowat-hours of pure energy (this has been reliably broadcast) and is equal to 60,000 tons of TNT per pound. But one pound of anything whose atomic cores are crushed (not split) yield 11 billion 400 million killowat-hours of pure energy, equal to 60 million tons of TNT for each pound. An explosion at water level or sub-surface (substantially below) appears almost certainly to have all the essentials for meeting the above conditions.
"No scientist in his right mind would dare attempt the 2nd test, under water, so soon after the first 2-mile high test over water was completed, because the 2nd is a multiplication factor of millions of times the first, in all phases." "This is a lack of common sense; they endanger the whole task force and perhaps countless other lives also. The majority of responsible physicists have washed their hands of this affair ... they say they cannot promise that a great disaster will not result... The public cannot be made to realize that the forces of the high altitude explosion will be multiplied millions of times in a sub-surface explosion. This bomb is far worse than anybody has ever been told. If the smallest size bomb had been used within 100 ft. of the surface, most of the fleet would have been melted or vaporized, while the more distant ships would have been smashed flat by the pressure wave transmitted thru water, hundreds of times greater than that transmitted thru air alone above land.
"Official reports, press releases (even by the United States News) gave out false information as to size and power of the bomb to be used in this first test, and also as to its altitude. Apparently this bomb was little above the critical size used in New Mexico, and exploded at close to a 2-mile height. Official sources have also stated that if a larger bomb than the Nagasaki type available, they would certainly use it in these water tests. We cannot now be sure of any facts unless they are verified by other than military or naval sources... Implosions did definitely create at least one large fire ball, creating so much heat that the air, the gases and even the water burned." "Ten towers of black smoke shot up on either side of the base of the atomic flame column." "The cloud over the water was generated by two tremendous concussions" (L.A. Times, July 1)... Dr. J.O. Hirectfelder of the Los Alamos laboratory said that the flash was 10 times more-intense than the sun, and was followed by a huge fire-ball a third of a mile in diameter... This was followed by a big fog bubble about the same size... The first blast spewed upward, perhaps a mile in diameter; Bikini and its flotilla disappeared behind a mountain of fire and smoke; then there was a 2nd explosion, 3 times as large - a crimson pillar of flame... This became a peach-colored inferno; flames of heat as if an oven hit the Appalachian ... the atomic cloud was at least 30,000 ft. high...."
- - - - - -
The Report and Analysis, as has been said, is incomplete, and our synopsis deals only with certain points of the material now on hand. But because of the serious of the situation, we present what we have without further delay of publication.