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Trinitite

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 made 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) that was melted by the atomic blast. It was first academically described in American Mineralogist in 1948. It is usually light green, although red trinitite was also found in one section of the blast site, and rare black trinitite was also formed. It is mildly radioactive but safe to handle. Pieces of the material remain at the Trinity site , although most of it was bulldozed and buried by the United States Atomic Energy Commission in 1953.

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Article summary

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 made 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) that was melted by the atomic blast. It was first academically described in American Mineralogist in 1948. It is usually light green, although red trinitite was also found in one section of the blast site, and rare black trinitite was also formed. It is mildly radioactive but safe to handle. Pieces of the material remain at the Trinity site , although most of it was bulldozed and buried by the United States Atomic Energy Commission in 1953.

Key claims

  1. publication date: 2021 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the publication date is "2021". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  4. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1377941583

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.