Trinity, the first nuclear weapons test of an atomic bomb

TRINITY PHOTOGRAPH - Alamogordo, NM - Trinity Test, July 16, 1945 - Trinity was the code name of the first nuclear weapons test of an atomic bomb detonated atop a at the Trinity Site in Southern New Mexico on July 16, 1945. This test was conducted by the United States Army.

0800001 Trinity - 1945 - Trinity Shot was part of the secret Manhattan Project - the atomic bomb project charged with designing, developing, testing, and firing a weaponization of the newly discovered phenomenon, fission, the splitting of nuclei of heavy particles to release energy. Nicknamed "Gadget," the device was exploded at the Trinity Site in southeastern New Mexico, near Alamogordo as the first proof test of the concept of implosion. This involved taking a critical mass of plutonium and using detonators to set off high explosives to cause the mass of radioactive material to squeeze in upon itself until it reached a super critical mass. This implosion, then, resulted in the splitting of the nuclei in the plutonium atoms, which produced heat, blast, and radiation.

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