TRINITITE : FIRST ATOMIC BOMB GLASS

Trinitite, also known as Alamogordo glass, is the glassy residue left on the desert floor after the plutonium-based Trinity nuclear bomb test on July 16, 1945, near Alamogordo, New Mexico.

 

The glass is primarily composed of arkosic sand that was melted by the atomic blast.

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An estimated 4,300 gigajoules  of heat energy went into forming the glass. Material within the blast fireball was superheated for an estimated 2–3 seconds before resolidification.

 

Trinitite no longer contains sufficient radiation to be harmful .It still contains the radionuclides 241Am, 137Cs and 152Eu owing to the Trinity test using a plutonium bomb.