Bomb tower

A bomb tower is a lightly constructed tower, often 100 to 700 feet (30 to 210 meters) high, built to hold a nuclear weapon for an aboveground nuclear test.[1] The tower holds the bomb for the purpose of the investigation of its destructive effects (such as burst height and distance with given explosive yield) and for the adjustment of measuring instruments, such as high-speed cameras. Normally, the bomb tower will disintegrate completely on detonation due to the enormous heat of the explosion.

The tower used in the Trinity test, 1945.

References

Richelson, Jeffrey (2006). Spying on the bomb : American nuclear intelligence from Nazi Germany to Iran and North Korea (1st ed.). New York: Norton. p. 166. ISBN 0-393-05383-0. OCLC 60557325.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] Richelson, Jeffrey (2006). Spying on the bomb : American nuclear intelligence from Nazi Germany to Iran and North Korea (1st ed.). New York: Norton. p. 166. ISBN 0-393-05383-0. OCLC 60557325.