G.I. Taylor and the Trinity test

Deakin, Michael A. B.

doi:10.1080/0020739x.2011.562324

Cited by 13 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…1, which shows a remarkable agreement of the data with the theoretical description in Eq. (5). A simple linear fit results in the parameters m = 1.01±0.02 and n = 6.94±0.05, with all the data following a single line confirming the two predictions of Taylor's modeling.…”

Section: Trinity Explosionsupporting

confidence: 62%

“…Nonetheless, most of the inaccuracies appear in the evaluation of a dimensionless factor that cannot be accounted by dimensional analysis. Many of the myths behind this story have been examined in detail by Deakin [5], including comparisons between the work of Taylor [1,4] with lesser known developments in parallel that took place in the U.S. by John von Neumann [6] and in the Soviet Union by Leonid Sedov [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Explosion analysis from images: Trinity and Beirut

Diaz

2020

Preprint

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Images of an explosion can be used to study some of its physical properties. After reviewing and clarifying the key aspects of the method originally developed to study the first nuclear explosion, the analysis of the data is discussed in connection to undergraduate laboratory experiences. Following the exposition of the procedure for the Trinity explosion, the method is applied to the Beirut explosion of August 2020 by using the frames of many videos posted online and producing remarkably accurate results. The estimate for the explosion yield of the Beirut blast is found to be 4.19 +0.39 −0.39 TJ or 1.00 +0.09 −0.09 kt of TNT equivalent. A basic modeling of the pressure wave indicates the temporary supersonic speed of the blast.

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Section: Trinity Explosionsupporting

confidence: 62%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Explosion analysis from images: Trinity and Beirut

Diaz

2020

Preprint

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“…[34], the early cavity growth produced by an explosion at the water surface was described with a potential flow model simplifying to the expression for the radius R 3Ṙ2 = E 0 /ρ, which easily yields the result R(t) ∝ t 2/5 (here we used indistinctly R cav = R). This 2/5 scaling law was established by Taylor for shock wave propagation following a nuclear blast [35], and it was also found during excitation of hard spheres by examining the growth rate of particle collisions in 2D and half-space simulations [36]. Nevertheless, the model considers that the overpressure generated by the explosion relaxes to ambient on a millisecond time scale, shorter than the expansion time of the cavity [t ∼ O(10 −1 s)].…”

Section: Early Cavity Growthmentioning

confidence: 71%

Craters produced by explosions in a granular medium

2017

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We report on an experimental investigation of craters generated by explosions at the surface of a model granular bed. Following the initial blast, a pressure wave propagates through the bed, producing high-speed ejecta of grains and ultimately a crater. We analyzed the crater morphology in the context of large-scale explosions and other cratering processes. The process was analyzed in the context of large-scale explosions, and the crater morphology was compared with those resulting from other cratering processes in the same energy range. From this comparison, we deduce that craters formed through different mechanisms can exhibit fine surface features depending on their origin, at least at the laboratory scale. Moreover, unlike laboratory-scale craters produced by the impact of dense spheres, the diameter and depth do not follow a 1/4-power-law scaling with energy, rather the exponent observed herein is approximately 0.30, as has also been found in large-scale events. Regarding the ejecta curtain of grains, its expansion obeys the same time dependence followed by shock waves produced by underground explosions. Finally, from experiments in a two-dimensional system, the early cavity growth is analyzed and compared to a recent study on explosions at the surface of water.

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“…An interesting discussion on the limits of the Taylor approach, which obtained some popular success after the successful determination of the (classified) energy of the first atomic bomb tested in 1945 in the Nevada desert (see Figure 2), is reported by Michael A.B. Deakin in Reference [5]. According to Deakin, Taylor's calculation of the Trinity bomb energy [6] (which, in the word of his biographer G.K. Batchelor, caused him to be "mildly admonished by the US Army for publishing his deductions from their (unclassified) photographs" [7]) was indeed overestimated, although by a mere 3% with respect to the calculations that could have been derived by the exact treatment of von Neumann or Sedov.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shock Waves in Laser-Induced Plasmas

Campanella

Legnaioli

Pagnotta

et al. 2019

Atoms

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The production of a plasma by a pulsed laser beam in solids, liquids or gas is often associated with the generation of a strong shock wave, which can be studied and interpreted in the framework of the theory of strong explosion. In this review, we will briefly present a theoretical interpretation of the physical mechanisms of laser-generated shock waves. After that, we will discuss how the study of the dynamics of the laser-induced shock wave can be used for obtaining useful information about the laser-target interaction (for example, the energy delivered by the laser on the target material) or on the physical properties of the target itself (hardness). Finally, we will focus the discussion on how the laser-induced shock wave can be exploited in analytical applications of Laser-Induced Plasmas as, for example, in Double-Pulse Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy experiments.

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G.I. Taylor and the Trinity test

Cited by 13 publications

References 4 publications

Explosion analysis from images: Trinity and Beirut

Explosion analysis from images: Trinity and Beirut

Craters produced by explosions in a granular medium

Shock Waves in Laser-Induced Plasmas

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