# Photos of 8 Nuclear Explosions **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 26, 2008, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photos-of-8-nuclear-explosions/457806 "2008-07-26T01:15:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photos-of-8-nuclear-explosions/457806/1 "2008-07-26T01:15:01Z")
See them [here](http://picdit.wordpress.com/2008/07/21/8-insane-nuclear-explosions/). I find these beautiful in an evil sort of way. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photos-of-8-nuclear-explosions/457806/2 "2008-07-26T01:19:21Z")
Makes me wanna sing. . . _Happy traaaaails to you . . . until . . we meeet agaaaaaain . …_ Tripler Wait, that _was_ the closing song to _Strangelove_, que no? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photos-of-8-nuclear-explosions/457806/3 "2008-07-26T01:27:37Z")
[QUOTE=Tripler] Makes me wanna sing. . . _Happy traaaaails to you . . . until . . we meeet agaaaaaain . .._ Tripler Wait, that _was_ the closing song to _Strangelove_, que no? :smack: [/QUOTE] “We’ll meet again, don’t know where…don’t know when…” ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photos-of-8-nuclear-explosions/457806/4 "2008-07-26T01:34:37Z")
They’re beautiful. I’m equally amazed at the quality of the photographs and the incredible textures the explosions create. ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photos-of-8-nuclear-explosions/457806/5 "2008-07-26T01:45:04Z")
My god, look at that house! That’s two and a half seconds - at over a thousand metres away? Jesus, I knew that was an easy range for a nuke (depending on the yield, I’ve heard radiuses for “complete destruction” go up to 14 kilometres, or nearly 10 miles) but I never imagined the destruction was so . . . complete. (And the picture with the explosion over the lake is beautiful. My good, look at the sheer _size_ of the thing!) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photos-of-8-nuclear-explosions/457806/6 "2008-07-26T01:54:06Z")
[QUOTE=Gukumatz] My god, look at that house! That’s two and a half seconds - at over a thousand metres away? Jesus, I knew that was an easy range for a nuke (depending on the yield, I’ve heard radiuses for “complete destruction” go up to 14 kilometres, or nearly 10 miles) but I never imagined the destruction was so . . . complete. [/QUOTE] Yes, if you HAVE to be nuked, it’s best to be at Ground Zero. It’s all over very quickly. None of this long-drawn-out radiation poisoning. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photos-of-8-nuclear-explosions/457806/7 "2008-07-26T02:15:28Z")
Hollywood tells us that if we’re going to survive a nuclear blast, hide in the nearest refrigerator for definite survival. ---
**Author:** ![Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Full_Metal_Lotus)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photos-of-8-nuclear-explosions/457806/8 "2008-07-26T03:00:00Z")
I once had a Physics Prof walk in and talk a flash picture of the class. He then said: “That’s how long it takes to die at ground zero…” he then went on to lecture about blast effects at various distances and bomb “strengths” And interesting class indeed… Regards FML ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photos-of-8-nuclear-explosions/457806/9 "2008-07-26T04:44:59Z")
[QUOTE=Siam Sam] Yes, if you HAVE to be nuked, it’s best to be at Ground Zero. It’s all over very quickly. None of this long-drawn-out radiation poisoning. [/QUOTE] There was an opinion during the Cold War that living near the airbase at Jacksonville, Arkansas would provide a quick and unknowing death. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Credible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photos-of-8-nuclear-explosions/457806/10 "2008-07-26T04:45:40Z")
If you look close enough, you can see the face of Louis Gossett Jr.’ character from _Enemy Mine_ in the second picture. See him, looking off to the right? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photos-of-8-nuclear-explosions/457806/11 "2008-07-26T04:56:19Z")
> [@](#): > > The camera was completely enclosed in a 2-inch lead sheath as a protection against radiation. The only source of light was that from the detonation. Holy shit. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2008, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photos-of-8-nuclear-explosions/457806/12 "2008-07-27T00:29:34Z")
I find myself fascinated with the Nagasaki photo and the three people in the foreground. I wonder what must have been going through their minds upon hearing the blast and seeing this thing rising up before them. Today, we’d have a fair idea about what it was; they’d never heard of anything remotely like it. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2008, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photos-of-8-nuclear-explosions/457806/13 "2008-07-27T00:54:26Z")
[QUOTE=Tripler] Wait, that _was_ the closing song to _Strangelove_, que no? :smack: [/QUOTE] The song was “We’ll Meet Again”, sung by Vera Lynn. I have a number of pictures taking from Kwaj of detonations (probably the Castle series) at Bikini. They are very pretty, and just like a rendering of an exploding star, something I want to be far, far away from. The hydrodynamics of an explosion are fascinating things to study in concept; the reality of destruction and radioactivity, not so much. One would hope that we would start to put this chapter in man’s use of technology to threaten and destroy others, but then we see Russia making negotiations to based bombers in Cuba, and the United States setting up missile defenses in Eastern Europe, and realize that it’s just a continuous cycle. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2008, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photos-of-8-nuclear-explosions/457806/14 "2008-07-27T03:11:45Z")
I understand that, seen live from a distance, a nuclear explosion has purple lightning features about it. I’ve never seen these in any photos or movies of an explosion, and I’m very curious about them – it makes sense, because you’d expect some high-energy recombination and transition photons (like those you see from a lightning flash, which id nitrogen recombining), but maybe at higherf energy. I’d really like to see that sometime.