Atomic bomb mushroom cloud
3 versions
distinctive mushroom-shaped flammagenitus cloud of debris, smoke and usually condensed water vapor resulting from a large explosion.Mushroom clouds result from the sudden formation of a large volume of lower-density gases at any altitude, causing a Rayleigh–Taylor instability. The buoyant mass of gas rises rapidly, resulting in turbulent vortices curling downward around its edges, forming a temporary vortex ring that draws up a central column, possibly with smoke, debris, condensed water vapor, or a combination of these, to form the mushroom stem. The mass of gas plus entrained moist air eventually reaches an altitude where it is no longer of lower density than the surrounding air; at this point, it disperses, drifting back down (see fallout). The stabilization altitude depends strongly on the profiles of the temperature, dew point, and wind shear in the air at and above the starting altitude. Nuclear detonations produced high above the ground might not create mushroom clouds with a stem. The heads of the clouds themselves consist of highly radioactive particles, primarily the fission products and other weapon debris aerosols, and are usually dispersed by the wind, though weather patterns (especially rain) can produce problematic nuclear fallout.[5]
Detonations significantly below ground level or deep below the water (for instance, nuclear depth charges) also do not produce mushroom clouds, as the explosion causes the vaporization of a huge amount of earth and water in these instances, creating a bubble which then collapses in on itself; in the case of a less deep underground explosion, this produces a subsidence crater. Detonations underwater but near the surface produce a pillar of water, which, in collapsing, forms a cauliflower-like shape, which is easily mistaken for a mushroom cloud (such as in the well-known pictures of the Crossroads Baker test). Underground detonations at low depth produce a mushroom cloud and a base surge, two different distinct clouds
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