Talk:Mushroom cloud

Untitled
Is the Nagasaki blast really appropriate here, considering how many people's death that represents? Perhaps we should use an image of the Trinity explosion instead. What do you think? Foobaz
 * The photo shows a mushroom cloud. It's appropriate regardless of the results of the blast. Should we remove the Nagasaki entry too because of the kill count? No, I don't think so. Adraeus 05:51, 12 Sep 2004 (UTC)

It perhaps would be good to add a photo of a natural mushroom cloud, for the skeptic ones ;) I once saw one of these clouds emerging from a volcano, but it was in a film =( euyyn 11:21, 13 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I don't think that condensation rings are caused by a drop in temperature. Why would a shockwave front cause the temperature to drop? That makes no sense. I think it is a drop in pressure, like behind the shockwave of a plane breaking through the sound barrier in moist air.
 * This seems more plausible to me too, but it would be nice to have someone who knows what they're talking about confirm this, and explain its shape while they're at it. Though it should be noted that a sudden decrease in pressure does result in a decrease in temperature in a gas.  The page Smoke ring claims that it is observed in atomic bombs, which would explain its shape and movement, but in that case it is unclear to me how it forms in the first place.

Where are the photographs of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 m-clouds? euyyn 11:49, 13 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Why would it be unclear as to why it's called a "mushroom" cloud? Doesn't it, in fact, look very much like a mushroom? --24.118.77.253 18:50, 6 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Agreed. The photo on the article is not a good example of a "perfect" mushroom cloud, as it appears in the first few seconds after the explosion. The one on the picture (besides the bad quality of the image) has been release for a longer period than what is usually depicted in film, so the mushroom shape is already a bit lost.

'The reasons why the cloud has been described as a "mushroom" are not entirely understood, though the actual shape of a mushroom, with its wide cap on a narrow stem, likely played a part.' This bit made me laugh. It seems a bit ludicrous. Also, the last line, 'Most of the stuff written here has not been confirmed and extra research needs to be done, before its validity can be verified.' should not be there, it isn't very... proper, and there seems to be quite a lot of confirmation (quotes being cited and such), so I'll remove it until someone can think of a good reason to put it back up. Bgh251f2 16:25, 22 October 2005 (UTC)

Emphasize photographic evidence over art
I suggest that at least during the present state of the article, minimizing the amount of art and focusing more on actual photographic evidence. I think this will provide much more credibility. &mdash; FJ | hello  06:43, May 16, 2005 (UTC)


 * Evidence of what, exactly? There is no "art" in the current article that I can see (there is one diagram, but I assume that is not what you mean). --Fastfission 14:39, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

Spherical Cap Bubble
Isn't it worth cross-referring to the analogies here? It's only the close proximity of the ground that causes the stem to develop IIRC. see say Batchelor 'Fluid Dynamics' p476 section 6.11 ('large gas bubbles in liquid') which notes that spherical cap bubble theory give the right-ish rate of rise. Linuxlad 10:32, 17 June 2006 (UTC)


 * So... add it in. --Fastfission 14:37, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

Fine, dun. Bob aka linuxlad (sans tilde)

Doughnut
I always thought the vertical column (or stem) was created when the blast is blocked and diverted upward by the doughnut shape cloud of debris kicked up from the ground around the point of impact. Does this contribute even a little to the shape, or is my physics way off? 205.174.22.28 06:01, 17 August 2006 (UTC)


 * I assume you are talking about the blast being reflected off of the ground? I don't think that contributes to the stem. There are a few shots where you can actually see it reflecting off the ground and while it raises the ground a bit and deforms the fireball (and of course can created a Mach stem, which is different) it doesn't seem to be responsible for a visible stem. I could easily be wrong, but I don't recall that being a big aspect of the stem formation. --Fastfission 14:34, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

Volcanic mushroom clouds?
Should there be a mention of things like what is seen in Image:MountRedoubtEruption.jpg?—a thing 18:37, 2 September 2006 (UTC)


 * That's pretty neat. --Fastfission 18:39, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

I think this photo is not a mushroom cloud, but rather a smoke column that has collides with the tropopause and flattened out. The most famous picture from the Hiroshima attack is consistently mislabel as the mushroom cloud when in fact it is the firestorm smoke column hitting the tropopause at around 17km altitude (twice the height of a 15kt explosion mushroom cloud). The tropopause is around 10km high at the latitude of Alaska, if the mountain is three km high then this photo should not be used in this article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.254.41.236 (talk) 20:21, 21 October 2013 (UTC)

vandalism
This is a heads up that the quote from the times apears to have been altered. Does anyone have a source to check that?

Aerial nuke bursts
If I understand correctly, it sounds like mushroom clouds created by nuclear blasts are so dense and so large because of a great deal of dust and debris that's sucked up into the air (the exact mechanism is not explained), whereas a mid-air nuclear burst that is a mile off the ground would have a far less dense cloud, whose visible particles would only be the vaporized particles from the bomb itself. Some questions I think the article would benefit from answering:

1. Roughly what percentage of the smoke visible in a mushroom cloud is ground dust and debris? 99%? More? Or is there some other phenomenon that causes some of the visible smoke?

2. What is the mechanism of the dust being sucked up into the mushroom cloud? Is it just high winds blowing the dust around?

3. A photo of a mid-air nuclear burst, if one is available, would be a good contrast with the ground-burst photos.

4. Over at the Tsar Bomba article, it's claimed the explosion "touched the ground". The resulting mushroom cloud was the largest ever. If it had been a surface blast, would the mushroom cloud have been even larger because of the larger amount of vaporized soil available for the winds to suck upward?

Tempshill 16:29, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

Bush quote
Is it worth including the famous Bush quote about Iraq, "Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof -- the smoking gun -- that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud."? Superm401 - Talk 15:52, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

More vandalism
I dont have a profile here, so I dont know how to change it. Putting your mouse over the last picture of the mushroom cloud in the scroll bar gives the description "Mushroom cloud. Cornchips taste good with salsa, but not good with mushrooms. yaaaaaaaaaaaay."

scratch that, all of them say it...


 * Thanks for the info. I just deleted it. E Wing (talk) 14:13, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

return of vandalism
...sorry to be a bother, but it has returned again lol... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 168.170.197.10 (talk) 18:08, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

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okay, well whatever happened after the 1st atomic bomb was dropped? i mean, i know that it got dropped twice in japan. but how long did the 2nd atomic bomb last then the 1st bomb? lol, did that make any sense?

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Condensation effects, fluorescence of air?
Does anybody know more about the condensation effects observed at higher-yield nuclear blasts? A good description of formation of the ice caps and skirts and bells and all those beauties? Also, description of the atmospheric fluorescence observed in e.g. the Trinity test would be nice. --Shaddack (talk) 06:44, 29 January 2010 (UTC)

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yield 19 kt at 143 m / kt^(1/3)
The text contains two times expressions of this form whose meaning is beyond my understanding. 151.29.19.73 (talk) 18:14, 7 July 2021 (UTC)