Ivy Mike: How the H-bomb Vaporised an Island

No man is an island. Now there is no island.

In 1952, Ivy Mike created the then largest man-made fireball.

5km across, the fireball erupted from the island of Elugelab and engulfed the sky. The shock wave vaporised everything within 5km, and scraped the neighbouring islands clean, no buildings or plants remained. 2 hours later some helicopters flew over what used to be Elugelab. The island was gone. In its place was a dark blue welt in the ocean, 2km across, and deep enough to hold a 17 story building. The island had been vaporised. It was 1952, and the largest bomb in the world had just been detonated.

The United States made the bomb because it was afraid. In late 1949 the Soviet Union had created and detonated ‘First Lightning’ – a nuclear bomb just like those dropped at the end of World War II. The United States was no longer the only nuclear superpower. Tensions escalated, and they needed something new. They were going to need a bigger bomb.

In January 1950, President Truman announced that the United States would develop a new bomb, superior to the A-bomb. A hydrogen bomb that would push the United States into the Thermonuclear era. Unfortunately nobody knew how to make the H-bomb.

H-bombs are thermonuclear, meaning nuclear fusion. They make heat in the same way the sun, and billions of others stars make their energy. Two small atoms like hydrogen hit each other and combine to make a larger atom, at the same time they release large amounts of energy. The problem is that fusion needs immense heat and pressure. That difficulty is why it was happening easily in the sun, but not so much on Earth.

In 1951 Stanislaw Ulam and Edward Teller overcame that barrier. With their combined ideas, thermonuclear bombs were possible – in theory. To test the theory, they needed an experiment. Project Ivy was started, and it was the perfect opportunity to test.

The Building Bomb

Project Ivy was aimed at improving U.S. nuclear weapons in two ways. The first was the H-bomb, the other was making a larger, A-bomb. The H-bomb was Ivy Mike, at its construction it was the largest, heaviest and most powerful bomb in existence. I say bomb, it was closer to a factory-sized nuclear fridge.

Mike was not a bomb ready to be dropped from a plane, it was designed purely as an experiment, so it looked like an aircraft hangar or factory. It was assembled in the Pacific proving grounds, on Elugelab, a small island on Enewetak atoll. The main bomb assembly was over 6 metres tall and 2 metres wide. Covered in metal case 30cm thick, it was very large, shiny and cold. They nicknamed it “Sausage.” Sausage weighed a dainty 56 metric tonnes. Read more

Deployed on 26 April, 2013 by Alexandre Coates in Macro Oddities Leave a message?

Drapetomania – Freedom the Sickness

In 1851 the prominent American physician Samuel Adolphus Cartwright observed black slaves that fled captivity, and saw an illness. “Drapetomania, or the disease causing Negroes to flee” was the title to his paper explaining that black slaves didn’t want freedom, if they escaped they were ill. The cause was masters who treated slaves as something close to human beings, and slaves who considered themselves to be individuals of worth. Freedom was an illness, and Cartwright had the cure.

If a slave becomes “sulky and dissatisfied without reason,” then they may have drapetomania and be about to flee. Cartwright recommended “whipping the devil out of them” until they became submissive again, the state to which they belonged. An alternative remedy was to make running away impossible by having the big toe from both feet severed. Hence curing the disease.

Looking at it from what is technically “the future” we can easily see that something strange is afoot here. Instead of treating black slaves a people, Cartwright assumed that the place of a slave, was to remain a slave. He used the bible as evidence, taking sections talking about the faithfulness of a servant to master to justify his assertions that slaves should be treated as little more than children. Children to be whipped that is. This viewpoint led him to make some suspect, pseudoscientific contributions to the body of scientific racism. He even believed that lazy saves weren’t upset, they too were ill.

Deployed on 23 November, 2012 by Alexandre Coates in Micro Oddities Leave a message?

Line to Nowhere: The Life and Death of a Mojave Phone Booth

Deserted in the desert

Two dusty tracks cross in the sun-blasted Mojave Desert; there, perched on the edge of nowhere are concrete blocks where a famous phone booth used to stand. It was there for miners in the 1960s with its hand-cranked convenience, in the 1970s it was upgraded to the newfangled touch-tone technology and it was there for no-one. The area around was abandoned by all but dust, and the phone booth waited. The phone booth was shot, no-one knows when. After the unfortunate incident it began to live a full life, going from a lone watcher to an obsession and a small icon.

Phone Found

Decades passed it by uneventfully until 1997, a map, and a character known only as ‘Mr N’ decided to meet. The anonymous Los Angeles resident was absently scanning a map of the nearby area when he noticed an anomaly – a blemish, a dot in the Mojave. Printed next to it, the word ‘telephone’.

Taking the discovery as a call to action Mr N set off in a Jeep and in pursuit, wearing a fine pair of wingtip shoes. He navigated to the nearest bit of tarmac, 15 miles away, then turned off into the dust, following the faint track and the mark on a map. Surprisingly enough he found the thing and decided to test it.

‘It works’

Eventually he returned home and wrote about the discovery in a letter to a small underground magazine he subscribed to. He finished by writing ‘it works’ and included the number so that anyone could call the desert. The number was (760) 733-9969. In spite of all chances the phone company had left the thing connected despite the minuscule number of people it could service. Fortunately for the phone company a lot more people started to use it. Some used it more than others.

26^th May 1997, Godfrey Daniels read the letter and became fixated upon it. His house slowly gathered notes to remind him. “Did you remember to call the Mojave Desert today?” blared the note stuck to his mirror. He had the equipment he needed to tape ever single call. Recording him repeating the time and date of the call while the phone rang out over an empty desert. He made every visitor to his house call the booth at least once, and he said he was ‘prepared to call for years.’ Years were not necessary, the desert sent some ears.

Deployed on 30 October, 2012 by Alexandre Coates in Macro Oddities 4 Current Replies

Voskhod 2: The Cursed Peak of Soviet Space

Alexei Leonov on his spacewalk.

Voskhod 2 was a deadly mission. It was the final space race victory for Soviet Russia before NASA finally claimed its lead and ultimately won with the lunar endgame of 1969. This peak of the Soviet Federal Space Program nearly killed its two cosmonauts but was ultimately successful – it began on the 18th March 1965 when Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyayev were launched.

The setting was the gulf of space, the event was a secret. Soviet policy was that no-one outside of the space program and government knew the flight was taking place, so as to spare any shame and guilt after any mistakes. Even the families of those involved didn’t know the mission existed; at least until it was broadcast nationwide on television and radio. Fortunately the mission began well, and so ends the good news.

Voskhod 2 was ambitious, it was the first mission to attempt EVA (Extravehicular activity) in recorded history. EVA means a space walk. 30-year-old first-time cosmonaut Alexei twisted and turned in his stiff, customised space-suit before climbing into the ships first-of-a-kind inflatable airlock. Pavel lowered the airlock pressure and Alexei met the vacuum of space – it was not a pleasant meeting. Back at ground control they judged the mission was going well, so the camera feeds were sent out across Soviet Russia, and Alexei’s family found out that he was floating around outside of his spaceship. His young daughter reacted immediately:

“What is he doing? What is he doing? Please tell Daddy to get back inside.”

The purpose of the mission, other than annoying Americans, was to show that humans could survive independently in space, outside of a craft, given an appropriate suit. This escaped the notice of his father who was far more concerned with Alexei’s safety than scientific progress:

“Why is he acting like a juvenile delinquent?” he shouted in frustration. “Everyone else can complete their mission properly, inside the spacecraft. What is he doing clambering about outside? Somebody must tell him to get back inside immediately. He must be punished for this.”

Suddenly a new voice was heard through the televisions and radios of Russia. A message of congratulations from President Leonid Brezhnev: “We members of the Politburo are here sitting and watching what you are doing. We are proud of you,” Brezhnev said. “We wish you success. Take care. We await your safe arrival on Earth.” Both cosmonauts, and Alexei Leonov’s father, were cheered by the message. It was the last piece of good news for the entire mission.

10 minutes had passed, 10 minutes of entirely unknown experience; it was time to return. The Earth span beneath them, filling the void between themselves and the sun. Time was of the essence, they needed to flee humanity’s shadow.

Alexei reluctantly retreated from space and wandered to the airlock which was filled with trouble. The emptiness of space means there are few particles to hit surfaces and exert pressure upon them. Alexei’s spacesuit was filled with air, and so the internal pressure had caused the whole thing to expand and become near immovable at the joints. He had 40 minutes of oxygen left and he couldn’t fit into the airlock. The radio and television transmissions were cut by mission control and replaced with Mozart’s Requiem playing on loop. Nobody knew anything.

Deployed on 9 October, 2012 by Alexandre Coates in Macro Oddities 1 Comment

How You Are A Hive Mind

You make decisions. How good you are at doing so is irrelevant, what matters is that you make them. Now, you are smarter than a bee, at least you should be, yet bees make complex decisions in exactly the same way as you do, they use each other to form a literal hive mind. Meanwhile you, human lump of brain and bones, are a hive mind all of your own.

Decision making has been fine-tuned by evolution to the point that anything with a decently large brain uses the same method, it is simple debate. Neurons zip around the brain, collecting information and forming plans, ideas to be considered. Then the neurons gather together, each with their own opinion. What happens next is you ‘thinking’. If you’ve ever felt that you were in two minds about making a decision,you had good reason for believing as such, because that’s exactly what happens.

Neurons find those sharing the same idea and send positive signals to each other, which is nice of them. Then they find those who disagree with them and send inhibiting signals, the equivalent of telling someone to shut up. As time passes the numbers supporting each decision vary, smaller, less considered ideas are removed and slowly the best decisions grow in popularity. Once a large enough percentage of neurons has decided on a course of action the process stops. Congratulations, you’ve made a decision.

As was previously mentioned this is a technique that we use because it works, in fact every creature with a complex brain uses it. Bees do not have complex brains, they are fuzzy little balls that fly into flowers and build hexagons; yet they use the same technique. They form the hive mind.

Deployed on 11 September, 2012 by Alexandre Coates in Macro Oddities Leave a message?

Nail House and Nunchuks

Chongqing Nail House in 2007 prior to demolition In 2004 a group of developers had found the perfect site for a shopping complex in the Chinese municipality of Chongqing; all they had to do was remove the people living there. In 2004 they set to task, buying the land from the government and evicting everyone from the houses with nothing more than thugs and a small cash consolation. 280 home owners were removed, but one pair of ‘stubborn nails’ remained, Wu Ping and her husband Yang Wu. Then the battle began.

Instead of leaving with the petty cash they stayed, settling into the house while the land around was picked clean by the excavating vehicles. The ground around the house slowly disappeared but the couple stayed. Slowly the house appeared to rise on its earthen plinth until it sat raised, 10 metres above the ground below. Then water and electricity were cut. The developers were far from pleased.

A pair of thugs were sent up to intimidate the couple but Yang Wu, a local martial-arts champion, was not threatened. Over the three years things escalated and news spread. The towering two-storey house was a showcase for the struggle between citizens and rich developers in an aggressively growing China. A China that didn’t protect its citizens. As Wu Ping said:

“I’m not stubborn or unruly, I’m just trying to protect my personal rights as a citizen.”

Deployed on 24 August, 2012 by Alexandre Coates in Macro Oddities 3 Current Replies

By the Skin of his Body: The Death of Big Nose George

George Parrott Portrait August 1878, United States of America; a Union Pacific train was screaming through large, and largely empty, rural Wyoming. The day was warm and the steam train chugged along streaming billowing water vapour lazily through the air. George Parrott or Big Nose George as he was also known, was waiting by the tracks in Carbon County. His outlaw gang and he were ready to move from small pickings and into the big leagues. A simple plan; derail train; rob train; leave train.

As a group they had loosened a few sections of track the day before, moving them enough to destabilise the train, then they lay in wait. Unfortunately for the fellows some section hands had wandered across the damage and immediately repaired it. The train was safe. The train moved past them and wasn’t derailed and so they aborted the robbery, but they weren’t clear.

The section hands immediately reported the tampering to the authorities. Two men set out to investigate, Sheriff Robert Widdowfield and Special Railroad Detective Harry ‘Tip’ Vincent. The gang fled to a temporary camp in the nearby ‘Rattlesnake Canyon’ but the investigators were hot on their tracks and discovered them within days. Upon entering the camp they found a pile of embers. When blown upon they glowed, they were still hot.

The gang was lying in wait, then they leaped out. Anything up to twenty shots rang out through the canyon and the two investigators lay dead. Shot by Parrott’s cruel collective.

The group partially buried the bodies and then split, but while they fought the law, the law won. Surveyors near the canyon reported hearing the sounds of gunshots rebounding off the rock faces and 20 men were assembled to handle the incident when they realised the two men weren’t coming back. So off they went, to find the bandits and bring about justice.

Deployed on 3 August, 2012 by Alexandre Coates in Macro Oddities Leave a message?

Fact Fragments – Sharks, Cards, Mountains and Spanish

Olympus Mons

The highest mountain we know of has yet to be visited, it’s on Mars. We call it Olympus Mons. At 27km from its base to its peak, over 3 times the height of Everest, it is the greatest mountain in the solar system.

More than just tall, it is 550km wide, and is bent around the curvature of Mars itself. So pronounced is the effect that were you to stand on the peak of Olympus Mons, you wouldn’t be able to see the bottom of the mountain, as it would be hidden beyond the horizon. This size is a grand thing indeed, the whole mountain is surrounded by a moat up to 3km deep in some places. Nothing dug it, the sheer weight of it is great enough to literally dent Mars.

Deployed on 23 July, 2012 by Alexandre Coates in Micro Oddities 6 Current Replies

The Great Space Elevator

Powered, as all good things are, by lasers.

In 2009 a helicopter hovered 900m above the Mojave Desert, Andrew Petro was watching. Dangling from the helicopter was a tethered steel cable and a tripod-mounted laser. As Mr Petro watched a small, square robotic device rose upwards, powered by the laser; its ascension was smooth and rapid along the cable, 600 metres up it slowed and stopped. On behalf of NASA, Andrew Petro handed the semi-successful team behind the robotic square a cheque for $900,000 – they had just won a competition about the future of space travel.

Getting to space is expensive, but it becomes a lot cheaper when you don’t use rocket fuel. How to escape the planet without using rocket fuel has been a bit of a conundrum though, but we are approaching the answer steadily. The answer involves a powerful laser, a cable long enough to wrap around earth 8 times, a large steel ball and finally a very big metal box.

First described in 1895 as a ‘celestial castle’ attached to earth by a tether on the top of something like the Eiffel tower. It was more accurately presented in 1979 by Arthur C. Clarke’s ‘The Fountains of Paradise.’ The answer is a Space Elevator.

The competition was the 2009 Space Elevator Games, a NASA-run competition to encourage innovation into prototype space elevators. The reasons for the sudden interest and investment from NASA are two-fold. Firstly in 1990 the first carbon nanotubes were successfully manufactured; and secondly, high-strength lasers are rapidly increasing in power. The thing is becoming possible. So now, it seems, the space elevator concept could finally be getting off the ground.

Deployed on 7 July, 2012 by Alexandre Coates in Macro Oddities Leave a message?

Wasps and Mind Control

The jewel wasp (Ampulex compressa) is a bright, iridescent creature; one with a particular way of making sure its larvae get food. A mixture of hunting, poison and mind control make up its impressive repertoire. It starts when a female wasp finds a cockroach.

Upon finding the cockroach the wasp descends and stings it twice. The first sting strikes the midsection of the cockroach, this sting immobilises the cockroach’s front legs. The second strike goes directly into the brain of the cockroach, the wasp pumps in a specialised venom that doesn’t kill, but instead changes how the cockroach acts entirely.

The new cockroach is not paralysed, but confused. It will not flee from danger. In its new state the wasp moves to the front of the cockroach and grabs an antenna. Then it leads the cockroach on a walk like a dog on a leash. Dumbly the cockroach continues on, the venom working its brain precisely, until they reach the wasp’s nest.

The wasp lays an egg on the cockroach’s belly then seals the cockroach inside its nest before leaving. Over the next day or so the cockroach remains stupefied, even when the eggs hatch and a larva emerges. Then the power of the brain venom is shown. The larva begins to burrow into the cockroach, eating its flesh, live; the cockroach does nothing to stop it, and so it dies. A fantastic, if gruesome event, but how did it work? Read more

Deployed on 26 June, 2012 by Alexandre Coates in Macro Oddities Leave a message?

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