As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
Atomphobics have ruined the beauty of the study of atomic warfare in making everyone terrified of atomic bombs, when in reality, there are always some great dinner party conversation involved which will have peopled stunned to silence and then someone will make a crack about, "Well I still do not want to get caught in a nuke bomb", followed by nervous laughter and then everyone forgets your great stories.
In on site investigations you will find that nuclear bombs do not really start fires. One would think in great thermal sun type explosions that everything vaporizes, but Hiroshima was burned down instead by charcoal grills in homes, being tipped over by the explosion.
This is a quote in the ground zero type findings:
Evidence relative to ignition of combustible
structures and materials by best directly radiated
by the atomic bomb and by other ignition sources
developed the following: (1) The primary fire haz-
ard was present in combustible materials and in
fire-nniativp buildings with unshielded well open-
ings; (2) six persons who had been in reinforced-
concrete buildings within 3,200 feet of air zero
stated that black cotton black-out curtains were
ignited by radiant heat; (3) a few persons stated
that thin rice paper, cedar bark roofs, thatched
roofs, and tops of wooden poles were scire immedi-
ately after the explosion; (4) dark clothing wss
scorched, and, in some cases, reported to have
burst into (lame from flash heat; (5) but a large
proportion of over 1 ,000 persons questioned was in
agreement that a great majority of the original
fires was started by debris falling on kitchen char-
coal Area, by industrial process fires, or by electric
short circuits.
b. Hundreds of fires were reported to have
started in the center of the city within ten minutes
after the explosion. Of the total number of
buildings investigated 107 caught fire, and, in 69
instances, the probable cause of initial ignition of
the buildings or their contents was established as
follows: (li 8 by direct radiated beat from the
bomb (primary fire), (2) 8 by secondary sources
and (3) S3 by fire spread from exposing buildings.
In most cases in Hiroshima, the bomb did not start the fires, even in rice paper houses with straw roofs. It should be noted that electrical pulse from the bomb did start fires apparently, which was not as large an issue in 1945 as it would be in the modern era.
This is
Scores of persons throughout all sections of
the city were questioned concerning the ignition
of clothing by the flash from the bomb. Replies
were consistent that white silk seldom was af-
fected, although black, and some other colored
silk, charred and disintegrated. Numerous in-
stances were reported in which designs in black or
other dark colors on s white silk kimono were
charred so that they fell out, hut the white port
was not affected. These statements wen- con-
firmed by United States medical officers who had
been able to examine a number of kimonos avail-
able in a hospital. Ten school hoys were located
during the study who hsd been in school yard*
about 6,200 feel east and 7,000 feet west, re-
spectively, from AZ. These boys hsd flash bums
on the portions of their faces which had been
directly exposed to rays of the bomb. The boys'stories wen* consistent to the effect that their
clothing, sppsn>ntly of hot Ion materials,
"smoked." but did not burst into flame. I'hoto
3ft shows a boy's root lhal started to smolder from
heat rays at 3,800 feet from AZ.
One has to use some sense as this is not firecrackers in you do not set off an atomic or hydrogen bomb in your hand, but there are absolutes in this, and the first absolute is dark things absorb thermal heat and start on fire more readily. For realities, concrete, brick, steel are not going to vaporize, and with due protection in most instances, people will survive ground zero providing the shockwave would not collapse their structure.
Shockwave could be wind gust from the heat also, but in reality more things are a fire hazard from electronic pulse and being colored black, than from radiation.
Seriously Michelle Obama with a vibrator would stand greater hazard effects than some Caucasian with a Bible with a white cover.
Skin which would be protected, and that protection literally could be in the shade of a building, would not bomb burn either. There is the reality of one Japanese surviving both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, so being in the right place at the wrong time, does keep one alive.
The Soviets in a long ago era actually utilized a nuclear bomb to blow out a lake in Russia. The footage was interesting in people were swimming in it with no ill effects. Atomic energy, even in hydrogen form is simply heat energy which rises and expands. It has it's limits and in cases where it is not plutonium or cobalt, it's effects remedy themselves within days or weeks.
Humidity is a great deterrent in nuclear bombs also, as later testing in Nevada revealed that just like wild fires, it all depends on the moisture in the area.
In the low 19% humidity air of the 1953 Encore test in the Nevada desert, a house room full of combustibles with a windows facing an unobstructed radial line of sight
to the bomb was immediately ignited. Most cities have been built near large bodies of water like rivers, coast, or lakes, which allows evaporation and keeps the
humidity far higher (50-80% typically), than the Encore test at the Nevada desert. The large heat of vaporization of water, which must be supplied to heat up materials
containing water to temperatures well beyond 100 C to allow ignition, curtails ignition. The brief duration of the thermal flash only allows thin damp kindling to be dried out and ignited, therefore the equilibrium moisture content at high humidity has a disproportionately greater fire- retarding effect for thick damp wood than it does for fine kindling like damp leaves.
Time and again the information proves that in the series of tests at the Bikini Atoll in 1957 with a 1.5 megaton bomb, that even in the greatest of heat, if people simply moved away from open doors and windows in direct line of the thermal effects, they were unharmed as told by observer John C. Clarke:
Clark's 1957 article states that the ground shock was more impressive than the fallout, which was easily shielded by retreating to the centre of the building, away from the doorway:
"Less than twenty seconds after zero, the entire building started slowly rocking ... I grabbed the side of the control panel for support. Some of the men just sat down
on the floor. I had been in earthquakes before, but never anything like this. It lasted only a few seconds, but just as we were breathing easier, another ground shock
hit us ... Grier came back to relieve me at the radio and I went outside, taking along a Geiger counter. The shot cloud had spread out and was pure white. ... [About
16 minutes after detonation] we were receiving radiation at the rate of 8/1000 of a roentgen per hour [8 mR/hr] ... While we watched, the counter went up to 20 mR
[/hr], then to 40. ... By the time we were back in the blockhouse, the reading near the door was 1 R [/hr], and in the control room it was about 20 mR [/It]. ... about
H plus 1 hour ... I was most concerned as to what was happening to the radiation level outside. ... It read 40 R [/It]. I quickly closed the door. ... A little over an hour
after shot time ... our generator began failing and the lights gradually went out, leaving us in darkness ... We worked out a plan for a rescue operation to take place
about 5:30 pm ... To keep the "hot" dust off our bodies, we wrapped ourselves completely in bed sheets, cutting holes only for our eyes. Three helicopters were sent
from the command ship. As we heard them overhead we left the blockhouse, got into our jeeps and drove the half mile to the landing mat. ... The whole operation
took less than 5 minutes. . . . None of use had received any harmful amount of radiation. . . . However disconcerting it may have been to us at the moment, our
experience proved to be a windfall for the Civil Defense people. ... Now, for the first time, humans had been in an area of lethal radiation and had been unharmed
because of adequate protective covering ... shelter in an old-fashioned cyclone shelter with a covering of earth three feet thick would reduce the radiation level to about
1/5000 of that outside. ... Bulldozers were brought in to scrape off the top soil containing most of the radiation and push it into the ocean. This reduced the radiation
level around the blockhouse enough so that we could use it again for part of the test work."
So that you comprehend the above. The observers were in a hot zone at ground zero in storm shelter. The area was radioactive, and they simply used sheets to protect themselves from radioactive dust, drove through this hot zone and were evacuated.
Construction teams then used bulldozers to remove the radioactive soil around the test shelter, and it was used almost immediately. No one died from this and this should be very heartening to people who suffer from the hysteria of atomic and hydrogen bombs.
A concussion wave rolls over a shelter, in a "rolling fluid motion", so structures do not shatter which are adequate as this is not a shock wave of impact, and literally with adequate resources, as a in vehicle whose circuits would not be fried from electronic pulse, a person could literally drive from ground zero to safety, and survive by keeping the radioactive dust off them.
Again, it is the secondary fires which would be the problem in a city and the radioactivity from the bomb would not be the worst obstacle to overcome.
The following is a detailed account of the above nuclear blast and you will find in it, the rolling shock wave, and the basics of these observers even exposed themselves to nuclear ash, and found they barely were exposed.
"Important thought it was, the experiment was routine for us. It was predicted that the yield would be smaller than that of the Mike device ... The group in the firing
party included five others in addition to Clark, Grier and me. Dr Harold Stewart, a Naval Research Laboratory expert in spectroscopic [fireball thermal radiation
spectrum] measurements would be doing some experiments from the control bunker . . . Would there be a shift in the wind? If so, how bad would it be and what
damage would it do? ... The man to make the decision was Al Graves, the scientific director. ... Grier reached for the bench to steady himself as I stood bewildered in
the center of the room The whole building was moving, definitely now, not shaking or shuddering as it would from the shock wave that had not arrived yet, but with a
slow, perceptible rolling motion like a ship's roll ... Generally, the ground shock was never felt, as it died off more rapidly than did the shock wave through the air; the
fact that this one was evident at all was an indication that the explosion had been one of tremendous force. ... We waited 1 5 minutes. ... Suddenly the sky became filled
with a whitish chaff I stuck out my hand, which was soon covered ... The particles were bigger now; it began to feel like a hailstorm as larger and larger particles fell
from the sky. At first they were finely divided like dust, but quickly small pebbles, then rocks began raining from the sky. ... We were preparing a fresh pot of coffee
on the hot plate when the lights started to flicker and the coffee stopped boiling. . . . The generators and main power plant were in a separate building ... One of the
phases inside the generator had failed. ... Major John Servis, the commander of the Rad-Safe detachment ... was dressed in conventional radiation protective clothing
- loose overhauls taped tight at the ankle, snap-on booties over his shoes, a cloth cap, and cotton disposable gloves. ... Our film badges showed that we had
accumulated only a few hundred milliroentgens ... The area outside our bunker received 800 R."
The key to all of this nuclear effect is that if one simply takes shelter, they increase their odds of survival by 120%. One does not stand out in lightning, hail and tornado storms, so one does not stand outside in nuclear situations.
The greatest threats are electronic overloads, dark colors and low humidity, and not the nuclear fall out. If you notice in the above, the "hazmat" clothing in the 1950's was loose clothing, boots over one's shoes, taped cuff, a cap and gloves. Nothing hi tech and these people lived without problems.
Is there a difference in living in a nuclear hot zone? Most definitely there is in prolonged exposure, but in uranium and hydrogen exposures, if one takes precautions as one would for a bee hive in gathering honey, anyone can survive with a modicum of intelligence.
Don't look at the flash to keep from blinding yourself, simply change your clothes and then stay indoors until the radiation depletes itself.
Atomic virgins wearing white being chaste will survive.
if there had been effective civil defence at Hiroshima probably thousands
of lives would have been saved and much human suffering would have been
avoided.
There is no question about it.
Lord Mayhew
House of Lords Debate
agtG
