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Trinitite, also known as atomsite or 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 composed of quartz grains and feldspar (both microcline and smaller amount of plagioclase with small amount of calcite, hornblende and augite in a matrix of sandy clay)〔(Optical properties of glass from Alamogordo, New Mexico )〕 that was melted by the atomic blast. It is usually a light green, although color can vary. It is mildly radioactive but safe to handle.〔Kolb, W.M., and Carlock, P.G. Trinitite, 1999, ''The Atomic Age Mineral.'' This does not link to the book. http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/hiroshimatrinity/trinitite.htm〕〔''Nuclear weapons question'', Bad Astronomy and Universe Today Forum. May not be entirely accurate. http://www.bautforum.com/general-science/9499-nuclear-weapons-question.html〕〔''Analyzing Trinitite'', Hunter Scott. http://www.hscott.net/analyzing-trinitite-a-radioactive-piece-of-nuclear-history/〕 In the late 1940s and early 1950s, samples were gathered and sold to mineral collectors as a novelty. Traces of the material may be found at the Trinity Site today, although most of it was bulldozed and buried by the United States Atomic Energy Commission in 1953.〔Carroll L. Tyler, AEC letter to the Governor of New Mexico, July 16, 1953.〕 It is now illegal to take the remaining material from the site; however, material that was taken prior to this prohibition is still in the hands of collectors. ==Formation== In 2005 it was theorized by Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist Robert Hermes and independent investigator William Strickfaden that much of the mineral was formed by sand which was drawn up inside the fireball itself and then rained down in a liquid form.〔Robert Hermes and William Strickfaden, 2005, ''New Theory on the Formation of Trinitite'', Nuclear Weapons Journal http://www.wsmr.army.mil/pao/TrinitySite/NewTrinititeTheory.htm〕 In a 2010 article in ''Geology Today'', Nelson Eby of University of Massachusetts at Lowell and Robert Hermes described Trinitite: A number of different types of Trinitite have been identified. Green is the most common form. Black contains iron from the tower structure. Red contains copper from the device used in the blast or from the communications cables that led away from the site. Both black and red specimens are extremely rare. Rounded "pearls" also are found, which come from melted silica that returned to solid form before hitting the ground.〔(Steven L. Kay - Nuclearon - Trinitite varieties )〕 The glass has been described as "a layer 1 to 2 centimeters thick, with the upper surface marked by a very thin sprinkling of dust which fell upon it while it was still molten. At the bottom is a thicker film of partially fused material, which grades into the soil from which it was derived. The color of the glass is a pale bottle green, and the material is extremely vesicular with the size of the bubbles ranging to nearly the full thickness of the specimen."〔 An estimated 4.3 x 1019 ergs" or 4.3 x 1012 joules of heat energy went into forming the glass and as the temperature required to melt the sand into the glass form observed was about 1470 Celsius, this was the estimated minimum temperature the sand was exposed to. One of the more unusual isotopes found in trinitite, although by no means unique as it may also have formed during the Joe-1 test, which was a partial to complete Soviet replica of the Trinity/Fat Man design, is a barium neutron activation product, the barium in the Trinity device coming from the slow explosive lens employed in the device, known as Baratol. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Trinitite」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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