On this day in 1952 the U.S. successfully detonated Mike, the worlds first hydrogen bomb, in the atmosphere at the Eniwetok Proving Grounds on the Elugelab Atoll, part of the Marshall Islands in the southern Pacific. The 10.4-megaton device was the first thermonuclear device built upon the Teller-Ulam principles of staged radiation implosion. The incredible explosive force of Mike was apparent from the sheer magnitude of its mushroom cloud – within 90 seconds the mushroom cloud climbed to 57,000 feet and entered the stratosphere at a rate of 400 mph. One minute later it reached 108,000 feet, eventually stabilizing at a ceiling of 120,000 feet. Half an hour after the test, the mushroom stretched sixty miles across, with the base of the head joining the stem at 45,000 feet. The explosion wiped Elugelab off the face of the planet, leaving a crater more than a mile wide and destroying life on the surrounding islands. Physicist Herbert York summed up the implications of the first test of a thermonuclear device: the world suddenly shifted from the path it had been on to a more dangerous one. Fission bombs, destructive as they might have been, were thought of [as] being limited in power. Now, it seemed we had learned how to brush even these limits aside and to build bombs whose power was boundless. Let us pray. You have given us life, intelligence and the beauty of Creation, O Lord. Your good gifts were given so we might be stewards of all that is alive. In our arrogance, we have unleashed fearful forces that destroy. We have brought down fierce fire from the sky. Your children have been burned, your gentle green earth scorched. Fear rules us now, not Love; we have given in to evils, lesser and greater. In your mercy, help us turn from destruction, from the bombs and barricades. Lead us to Life again, to affirmation of all goodness and to international disarmament. With your grace, may we begin to dismantle the bombs, beat the swords into plowshares, And so transform the nuclear nightmare into the peace you have proposed. Hear our prayer, Lord, and guide us in your ways. Amen
Posted on: Sat, 01 Nov 2014 15:41:00 +0000
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