Atomic Bomb test with soldiers close by

[Chas_svo]

I remember being in a Nuclear Science Symposium and hearing a physicist tell us the when they did the first test at White Sands, that the risk that the test would initiate an uncontrollable fireball that destroy the earth was 27%. And the guy still pushed the button. Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot?

[slow84lx]

That's a cool video. Thanks for sharing.

It is crazy to see the human exposure to nuclear weapons from the early testing grounds. That could never happen in the US today.

One of my uncles served in an area sometime in the 60's where he and his buddies were exposed to some type of radiation. They all woke up with their hair on there pillows the next morning. Most of that group died at an early age from various types of cancer. My uncle has seen doctors constantly over most of my lifetime for the treatment of skin cancers.

[ScottJ]

incredible footage, totally blown away

[SS Junk]

This one is pretty wild as well.

[jw33]

Quick fact: All those little squiggly smoke trails that appear in a lot of the test footage next to the mushroom clouds are put there on purpose. Right before they detonate a device they launch rockets that are evenly spaced so that the smoke trails can be used to help gauge the size of the explosion.

Also they actually piled up 1Kt of tnt and set it off so that they could have a baseline explosion in order to calculate the yeild of future weapons 1Kt and above.

[Chas_svo]

The shockwave and the EMP are just f'ing amazing.

[Sean88gt]

Probably not many. They increased white specks and streaks on the last part of the film are from the radiation. Those guys were cooked pretty good.

And I remember in school doing "duck and cover" drills. And that wasn't really that long ago. It's a pretty wild mental shift to go from the ruskies being the evil empire to having them be virtually a non-threat compared to the jihadists.

Duck and Covers took a new urgency on after Red Dawn was released when I was a kid in Colorado.

[Osiris]

Eric, can you post the link to the vid in the original post?

[talisman]

Eric, can you post the link to the vid in the original post?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz9g_rl2JnU&feature=player_embedded

[talisman]

Watched Trinity and Beyond tonight. Pretty awesome stuff.

[Z06killinsbf]

Watched Trinity and Beyond tonight. Pretty awesome stuff.

Now imagine watching that while out to sea on a nuclear sub housing 24 missiles, each (possibly) holding 4-8 nuclear war heads 10 times as powerful as to what is in those videos. Sweet huh?

[helosailor]

Not a lot of people realize that just one boomer could effectively destroy any country on Earth. Absolutely amazing the amount of firepower just one vessel can bring to bear.

[CJ]

Not a lot of people realize that just one boomer could effectively destroy any country on Earth. Absolutely amazing the amount of firepower just one vessel can bring to bear.

That is what I was about to post. Subs are world enders. Probably the biggest deterrent ever conceived. A virtually untargetable weapon which could be parked just off your beach house within firing distance at any time.

[Z06killinsbf]

within firing distance at any time.

Well, as long as that is within 5,000 nm's

[Junioropolous07]

Mushroom cloud.