TRINITITE
Atomic Bomb Glass
Created July 16, 1945
White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico

At 05:29:45AM local time on Monday, 16 July, 1945, the nuclear age began. In a most graphic example of Einstein's famed equation (E = mc 2 ) a plutonium bomb, referred to as the “Gadget”, with a yield of 21 kilotons (equivalent to the explosive power of 21,000 tons of dynamite) was detonated at the Alamogordo Bombing range, 210 miles south of Los Alamos, New Mexico. One of the products of this nuclear explosion was a green glassy material formed by melting of the surrounding desert sand. Robert Oppenheimer had chosen the name “Trinity” for the nuclear test and this glassy material is referred to as “Trinitite”.

The trinitite layer had a radius of ~300 m and was ~2 cm thick. The top of the layer was glassy green while the underside was light tan with sandy inclusions. The trinitite occurs as fragments, agglomerated droplets, and 2 to 3 mm beads that are spheroidal, teardropped shaped or oblong. The original trinitite layer was bulldozed under shortly after the blast.

These samples were collected by a small rock shop called Los Compadres in the late 40s and later sold to a man in Michigan in the 70s. It sat in Michigan until around 2000. It was called the millstone collection for years.

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