Trinity Site: 1945-1995.
Page: 9

announcing calm to light winds with broken clouds for the following
two hours.

At 5:10 the countdown started and at 5:29:45 the device exploded
successfully. To most observers the brilliance of the light from the
explosion--watched through dark glasses--overshadowed the shock wave
and sound that arrived later.

Hans Bethe, one of the contributing scientists, wrote "it looked like
a giant magnesium flare which kept on for what seemed a whole minute
but was actually one or two seconds. The white ball grew and after a
few seconds became clouded with dust whipped up by the explosion from
the ground and rose and left behind a black trail of dust particles."

Joe McKibben, another scientist, said, "We had a lot of flood lights
on for taking movies of the control panel. When the bomb went off,
the lights were drowned out by the big light coming in through the
open door in the back."

Others were impressed by the heat they immediately felt. Military
policeman Davis said, "The heat was like opening up an oven door, even
at 10 miles." Dr. Phillip Morrison said, "Suddenly, not only was
there a bright light but where we were, 10 miles away, there was the
heat of the sun on our faces....Then, only minutes later, the real sun
rose and again you felt the same heat to the face from the sunrise.
So we saw two sunrises."



After the explosion


Although no information on the test was released until after the
atomic bomb was used as a weapon against Japan, people in New Mexico
knew something had happened. The shock broke windows 120 miles away
and was felt by many at least 160 miles away. Army officials simply
stated that a munitions storage area had accidentally exploded at the
Alamogordo Bombing Range.

The explosion did not make much of a crater. Most eyewitnesses
describe the area as more of a small depression instead of a crater.
The heat of the blast did melt the desert sand and turn it into a
green glassy substance. It was called Trinitite and can still be seen
in the area. At one time Trinitite completely covered the depression
made by the explosion. Afterwards the depression was filled and much