Marnie H. -- Recently a US team was sent to study Trinitite, the remains of the first nuclear explosion ever to be tested. Researchers in Alamogordo, New Mexico, used advanced scientific methods and equipment to analyze the site that was demolished in July of 1945. The original testing occurred only weeks before the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima during World War II. Using nuclear forensic analysis on a piece of trinitite, scientists were able to identify materials used in the making of the bomb. This same information could be used to discover where it came from. Since the current threat of terrorism is becoming very real in our country, nuclear testing analysis would be incredibly useful to us. We would be able to find out more about the bomb from the small fragments left behind, potentially leading us to the location and identity of the culprit(s).
August 10, 2011
Nuclear Forensic Analysis: It's the bomb!!!
** Note: this post is meant to provide a model for current NYOS Biology students to view & learn from, as they are developing their own article-reviewing skills. Plus, it's an awesome article! This review was written during the 2010-11 school year.**
Marnie H. -- Recently a US team was sent to study Trinitite, the remains of the first nuclear explosion ever to be tested. Researchers in Alamogordo, New Mexico, used advanced scientific methods and equipment to analyze the site that was demolished in July of 1945. The original testing occurred only weeks before the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima during World War II. Using nuclear forensic analysis on a piece of trinitite, scientists were able to identify materials used in the making of the bomb. This same information could be used to discover where it came from. Since the current threat of terrorism is becoming very real in our country, nuclear testing analysis would be incredibly useful to us. We would be able to find out more about the bomb from the small fragments left behind, potentially leading us to the location and identity of the culprit(s).
I found it extremely interesting that so much could be discovered from so little starting information. Forensics itself is astounding, but this is taking it to the next level. Even though the last time anything happened in the desert at Alamogordo was more than sixty years ago, a little piece of glass left at the site tells all of its history. The material was able to identify what was in the bomb, where it came from and who made it. It’s because of this that science never ceases to amaze me. Trinitite can aid our exploration in the future while still providing us with the past and all it once held. Peoples’ fears of terrorism can be put to a sort of ease, knowing that in the end, science will get us through any threat it conveys.
Marnie H. -- Recently a US team was sent to study Trinitite, the remains of the first nuclear explosion ever to be tested. Researchers in Alamogordo, New Mexico, used advanced scientific methods and equipment to analyze the site that was demolished in July of 1945. The original testing occurred only weeks before the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima during World War II. Using nuclear forensic analysis on a piece of trinitite, scientists were able to identify materials used in the making of the bomb. This same information could be used to discover where it came from. Since the current threat of terrorism is becoming very real in our country, nuclear testing analysis would be incredibly useful to us. We would be able to find out more about the bomb from the small fragments left behind, potentially leading us to the location and identity of the culprit(s).
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