College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
7D20.90 - Nuclear Explosions
The movies give a chronological time line of early nuclear bomb testing.
The "Nuclear Bomb Effects Computer" is a two-sided, circular slide rule that will enable you to calculate multiple measurements of a nuclear bomb explosion.
- B. Cameron Reed, "Why Only U-235 and Pu-239? Clasroom-Level Graphs for Understanding Heavy-Elements Weaponizability Factors", TPT, Vol. 58, #8, Nov. 2020, p. 556.
- B. Cameron Reed, "Can the Energy of Fission Make a Grain of Sand Visibly Jump?", TPT, Vol. 56, #9, Dec. 2018, p. 583.
- Ananda Shastri, "Studying the Effects of Nuclear Weapons Using a Slide-Rule Computer", TPT, Vol. 45, #9, Dec. 2007, p. 559.
- B. Cameron Reed, "Seeing the Light: Visibility of the July '45 Trinity Atomic Bomb Test from the Inner Solar System", TPT, Vol. 44, #9, Dec. 2006, p. 604.
- Paul Hewitt, "Figuring Physics", TPT, Vol. 43, #8, Nov. 2005, p. 547.
- Paul Hewitt, "Figuring Physics", TPT, Vol. 35, #9, Dec. 1997, p. 539.
- Paul Hewitt, "Figuring Physics", TPT, Vol. 35, #8, Nov. 1997, p. 502.
- Neil M. Shea, "Estimating the Nuclear Radius", TPT, Vol. 29, #4, Apr. 1991, p. 237.
- Lawrence Ruby, "If You Understand Leaky Buckets, You Understand A Lot of Physics", TPT, Vol. 29, #1, Jan. 1991, p. 44.
- Richard E. Berg, "More Leaky Buckets", TPT, Vol. 29, #5, May 1991, p. 266.
- D. Easton, "Mass Is Not Destroyed", TPT, Vol. 26, #4, Apr. 1988, p. 230.
- R. F. Taschek, "Space-Based Detection of Radiations from Nuclear Detonations", TPT, Vol. 7, #8, Nov. 1969, p. 464.
- Carl K. Tipton, "Graphite Reactor: Nuclear Landmark Opened to Public", TPT, Vol. 7, #4, Apr. 1969, p. 228.
- Jay Orear, "Edward Teller and Ballistic Missile Defense", TPT Vol. 6, #6, Sept. 1968, p. 279.
- Edward Teller, "Atomic Explosives: Solved And Unsolved Problems", TPT Vol. 6, #5, May 1968, p. 207.
- J. M. Pearson, B. Cameron Reed, "Remarks on the Yield of Fission Bombs", AJP, Vol. 92, #9, Sept. 2024, p. 680.
- B. Cameron Reed, "Fission Fizzles: Estimating the Yield of a Predetonated Nuclear Weapon", AJP, Vol. 79, #7, July 2011, p. 769.
- B. Cameron Reed, "Predetonation Probability of a Fission-Bomb Core", AJP, Vol. 78, #8, p. 804, Aug. 2010.
- B. Cameron Reed, "A Brief Primer on Tamped Fission-Bomb Cores", AJP, Vol. 77, #8, Aug. 2009, p. 730.
- Jeremy Bernstein, "Heisenberg and the Critical Mass", AJP, Vol. 70, # 9, Sept. 2002, p. 911.
- D. Schlauf, K. Siemon, R. Weber, R. A. Esterlund, D. Molzahn, P. Patzelt, "Trinitite Redux: Comment on 'Determining the Yield of the Trinity Nuclear Device via Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy,' by David Atkatz and Christopher Bragg [Am. J. Phys. 63, 411-413 (1995)]", AJP, Vol. 65, #11, Nov. 1995, p. 1110.
- David Atkatz and Christopher Bragg, "Determining the Yield of the Trinity Nuclear Device via Gamma-ray Spectroscopy", AJP, Vol. 63, #5, May 1995, p. 411.
- Charles J. Bridgman, "Sunlight Attenuation in Nuclear Winter", AJP, Vol. 57, #2, Feb. 1989, p. 166.
- W.L. Fadner, "Did Einstein Really Discover "E=mc2"?", AJP, Vol. 56, #2, Feb. 1988, p. 114.
- Mitchell J. Feigenbaum and David Mermin, "E=mc2", AJP, Vol. 56, #1, Jan. 1988, p. 18.
- A. A. Broyles, "Worldwide Radioactivity from a Nuclear War", AJP, Vol. 54, #2, Feb. 1986, p. 151.
- A. A. Broyles, "Smoke Generation in a Nuclear War", AJP, Vol. 53, #4, Apr. 1985, p. 323.
- Frederick P. Cranston, "Letter to the Editor", AJP, Vol. 51, #1, Jan. 1983, p. 9.
- A. A. Broyles, "Nuclear Explosions", AJP, Vol. 50, #7, July 1982, p. 586.
- H. A. Smith, Jr., T. E. Ward, and J. Wesick, "Laboratory Study of the Radioactivity from Fission Products in Microsopic Fallout Particles", AJP, Vol. 46, #3, Mar. 1978, p. 279.
- Michael Wiescher, Karlheinz Langanke, "Manhattan Project Astrophysics", Physics Today, Vol. 77, #3, March 2024, p. 34.
- Mark W. Paris, Mark B. Chadwick, "A Lost Detail in D-T Fusion History", Physics Today, Vol. 76, #10, Oct. 2023, p. 10.
- Luca Bindi, Paul Steinhardt, "Quasicrystals and the Birth of the Atomic Age", Physics Today, Vol. 75, #5, May 2022, p. 62.
- Robynne Mellor, "Soviet Uranium Boosters", Physics Today, Vol. 74, #7, July 2021, p. 28.
- Lee Miller, "The Warmth of Wind Power", Physics Today, Vol. 73, #8, Aug. 2020, p. 58
- Alex Wellerstein, "John Wheeler's H-Bomb Blues", Physics Today, Vol. 72, # 12, p. 42.
- B. Cameron Reed, "Revisiting the Los Alamos Primer", Physics Today, Vol. 70, #9, Sept. 2017, p. 42.
- Frank N. von Hippel, "Sakharov, Gorbachev, and Nuclear Reductions", Physics Today, Vol. 70, #4, Apr. 2017, p. 48.
- Alex Wellerstein and Edward Geist, "The Secret of the Soviet Hydrogen Bomb", Physics Today, Vol. 70, #4, Apr. 2017, p. 40.
- Victor Reis, Robert Hanrahan, and W. Kirk Levedahl, "The Big Science of Stockpile Stewardship", Physics Today, Vol. 69, #8, Aug. 2016, p. 46.
- Kenneth W. Ford, "Author Clarifies Credit for H-Bomb Calculations", Physics Today, Vol. 68, #9, Sept. 2015, p. 11.
- J. Michael Pearson, "On the Belated Discovery of Fission", Physics Today, Vol 68, #6, June 2015, p. 40.
- Pierce S. Corden and David Hafemeister, "Nuclear Proliferation and Testing: A Tale of Two Treaties", Physics Today, Vol. 67, #4, Apr. 2014, p. 41.
- Thomas C. Reed, "The Chinese Nuclear Tests, 1964-1996", Physics Today, Vol. 61, #9, Sept. 2008, p. 47.
- Houston G. Wood, Alexander Glaser, and R. Scott Kemp, "The Gas Centrifuge and Nuclear Weapons Proliferation", Physics Today, Vol. 61, #9, Sept. 2008, p. 40.
- Paul Guinnessy, "Bomb Scientists Remember Trinity", Physics Today, Vol. 58, #9, Sept. 2005, p. 34.
- William E. Parkins, "The Uranium Bomb, the Calutron, and the Space-Charge Problem", Physics Today, Vol. 58, #5, May 2005, p. 45.
- Robert W. Nelson, "Nuclear Bunker Busters, Mini-Nukes, and the US Nuclear Stockpile", Physics Today, Vol. 56, #11, Nov. 2003, p. 32.
- Gerald Holton, "Werner Heisenberg and Albert Einstein", Physics Today, Vol. 53, #7, July 2000, p. 38.
- Hans A. Bethe, "The German Uranium Project", Physics Today, Vol. 53, #7, July 2000, p. 34.
- David C. Cassidy, "A Historical Perspective on Copenhagen", Physics Today, Vol 53, #7, July 2000, p. 28.
- German A. Goncharov, "Thermonuclear Milestones", Physics Today, Vol. 49, #11, Nov. 1996, p. 44.
- German A. Goncharov, "Thermonuclear Milestones: (1) The American Effort", Physics Today, Vol. 49, #11, Nov. 1996, p. 45.
- German A. Goncharov, "Thermonuclear Milestones: (2) Beginnings of the Soviet H-Bomb Program", Physics Today, Vol. 49, #11, Nov. 1996, p. 50.
- German A. Goncharov, "Thermonuclear Milestones: (3) The Race Accelerates", Physics Today, Vol. 49, #11, Nov. 1996, p. 56.
- Herbert Friedman, Luther B. Lockhart and Irving H. Blifford, "Detecting the Soviet Bomb: Joe-1 in a Rain Barrel", Physics Today, Vol. 49, #11, Nov. 1996, p. 38.
- Thomas Reed and Arnold Kramish, "Trinity at Dubna", Physics Today, Vol. 49, #11, Nov. 1996, p. 30.
- David Holloway, "New Light on Early Soviet Bomb Secrets", Physics Today, Vol. 49, #11, Nov. 1996, p. 26.
- Friedwardt Winterberg, Günter Herrmann, Igor Fodor, Lincoln Wolfenstein, and Mark E. Singer, "More on How Nazi Germany Failed to Develop the Atomic Bomb", Physics Today, Vol. 49, #1, Jan. 1996, p. 11.
- Stanley Goldberg, "Groves and the Scientists: Compartmentalization and the Building of the Bomb", Physics Today, Vol. 48, #8, Aug. 1995, p. 38.
- Jeremy Bernstein and David Cassidy, "Bomb Apologetics: Farm Hall, August 1945", Physics Today, Vol. 48, #8, Aug. 1995, p. 32.
- Werner Heisenberg, David Cassidy, and William Sweet, "A Lecture On Bomb Physics: February 1942", Physics Today, Vol. 48, #8, Aug. 1995, p. 27.
- Jeremy Best, "Analyzing the Arkansas", National Security Science, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Winter 2021, p. 18.
- Virginia Grant, , "Atomic Number 94", National Security Science, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Winter 2021, p. 22.
- National Security Science, "Summer 2020 - The History Issue", Los Alamos National Laboratory.
- Gabriel Popkin, "Little Boy and Fat Man Cast Shadows Over April Meeting", APS News, Vol. 26, #3, Mar. 2017, p. 3.
- "May 21, 1946: Louis Slotin Becomes Second Victim of 'Demon Core'", APS News, Vol. 23, #5, May 2014, p. 2 & 6.
- Jeremy Bernstein, "At Los Alamos: Learning to Love the Bomb", APS News, Vol. 22, #10, Nov. 2013, p. 8.
- Jearl Walker, "4.76, Smoke Signals and Mushroom Clouds", The Flying Circus of Physics Ed. 2, p. 210.
- James D. Livingston, "Caultrons and Little Boy", Driving Force-The Natural Magic of Magnets, p. 183.
- T. A. Heppenheimer, "What Edward Teller Did", 2002 Science Supplement, ISBN 0-7172-1571-7, p. 192.
- "When, Where, Why and How it Happened: Mushroom Cloud Over Hiroshima", Readers Digest, p. 362.
- "When, Where, Why and How it Happened: Unleashing the Mighty Power of the Tiny Atom", Readers Digest, p. 364.
- Curt Suplee, "The Four Forces", Everyday Science Explained, National Geographic, p. 76.
- Curt Suplee, "Inner Sanctum", Everyday Science Explained, National Geographic, p. 126.
- Dennis Normile, "Aftermath", Science, Vol. 369, Issue 6502, July 24, 2020, p. 361.
- Guinness World Records, "Highest-Altitude Nuclear Explosion", 2003, p. 160.
- Guinness World Records, "First Use of Atomic Bomb", 2003, p. 160.
- Guinness World Records, "Largest Crater Caused by a Nuclear Explosion", 2003, p. 160.
- Guinness World Records, "Smallest Nuclear Weapon", 2003, p. 160.
- Guinness World Records, Nuclear World Records, 2003, p. 161.
- "What to Do in a Nuclear Attack", Popular Mechanics, March 2018.
- Pamphlet, Fallout Protection - What To Know And Do About Nuclear Attack, Department of Defense, Office of Civil Defense, H-6, Dec. 1961.
- John Walker, "Build Your Own Nuclear Bomb Effects Computer", Fourmilab Home Page
Disclaimer: These demonstrations are provided only for illustrative use by persons affiliated with The University of Iowa and only under the direction of a trained instructor or physicist. The University of Iowa is not responsible for demonstrations performed by those using their own equipment or who choose to use this reference material for their own purpose. The demonstrations included here are within the public domain and can be found in materials contained in libraries, bookstores, and through electronic sources. Performing all or any portion of any of these demonstrations, with or without revisions not depicted here entails inherent risks. These risks include, without limitation, bodily injury (and possibly death), including risks to health that may be temporary or permanent and that may exacerbate a pre-existing medical condition; and property loss or damage. Anyone performing any part of these demonstrations, even with revisions, knowingly and voluntarily assumes all risks associated with them.