When I look at videos of nuclear bombs, it looks like there are rings that form in the sky around the mushroom cloud. What are these rings?
They are regions of cloud formation; as the blast wave progresses outward, water vapor condenses in the vaccuum that passes through after the high pressure wave.
Multiple rings indicate a ever-lessening pressure:vaccuum:pressure oscillation.
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And… they’re something that’s probably only visible in the context of a photograph taken in a fraction of a second.
Condensation Rings or “Wilson Clouds”:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushroom_cloud
See “Condensation Effects” paragraph in the above wiki.
Little known fact: The German plane that dropped the atomic bombs on Pearl Harbor was nicknamed Bering Straight.
So great user name/post combo!
Too soon. 