Template:POTD/2007-03-27
A Rapatronic photo of the rope trick effect, the name for the lines and spikes which can emanate from the fireball of a nuclear explosion just after detonation, from the Tumbler-Snapper test series of 1952. The fireball has a surface temperature of over 20,000 kelvins and emits huge amounts of visible light radiation. The "rope tricks" which protrude from the bottom are caused by the heating, rapid vaporization and then expansion of the mooring cables tethering the tower supporting the nuclear bomb at the start of the test.Photo credit: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory