Editing Trinity (nuclear test) (section)

===Detonation===
The scientists wanted good visibility, low humidity, light winds at low altitude, and westerly winds at high altitude for the test. The best weather was predicted between July 18 and 21, but the [[Potsdam Conference]] was due to start on July 16 and President [[Harry S. Truman]] wanted the test to be conducted before the conference began. It was therefore scheduled for July 16, the earliest date at which the bomb components would be available.{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|p=364}}

The detonation was initially planned for 04:00 MWT but was postponed because of rain and lightning from early that morning. It was feared that the danger from [[radiation]] and fallout would be increased by rain, and lightning had the scientists concerned about a premature detonation,<ref name="trialrun">{{cite web |title=Countdown |work=Los Alamos: Beginning of an Era, 1943–1945 |publisher=Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory |url=http://atomicarchive.com/Docs/pdfs/00285808.pdf |access-date=August 24, 2014 |archive-date=August 26, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826133845/http://atomicarchive.com/Docs/pdfs/00285808.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> as had happened with a model of the electrical system.{{r|wellerstein20150716}} A crucial favorable weather report came in at 04:45,{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|p=365}} and the final twenty-minute countdown began at 05:10, read by [[Samuel King Allison|Samuel Allison]].{{sfn|Norris|2002|p=404}} A rocket launched at 5:25 to signal five minutes before detonation; another rocket fired at 5:29. At 5:29:15, a switch in the control bunker started the detonation timer.{{r|wellerstein20150716}} By 05:30 the rain had gone.{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|p=365}} There were some communication problems: the shortwave radio frequency for communicating with the B-29s was shared with the [[Voice of America]], and the FM radios shared a frequency with a railroad freight yard in [[San Antonio]], Texas.{{sfn|Bainbridge|1975|p=44}}

Two circling B-29s observed the test, with Shields again flying the lead plane. They carried members of [[Project Alberta]] who would carry out airborne measurements during the atomic missions. These included [[Captain (United States O-6)|Captain]] [[Deak Parsons]], the associate director of the Los Alamos Laboratory and the head of Project Alberta; [[Luis Walter Alvarez|Luis Alvarez]], [[Harold Agnew]], [[Bernard Waldman]], [[Wolfgang Panofsky]], and [[William Penney]]. The overcast sky obscured their view of the test site.{{sfn|Dvorak|2013|pp=11–13}}

At 05:29:21 MWT{{efn|name=MWT}} (11:29:21 [[Greenwich Mean Time|GMT]]) ± 15 seconds,{{sfn|Gutenberg|1946|pp=327–330}} the device exploded with an energy equivalent to {{convert|24.8|+/-|2|ktonTNT}}.<ref name="Trinity_yield">{{cite journal |last1=Selby |first1=Hugh D. |last2=Hanson |first2=Susan K. |last3=Meininger |first3=Daniel |last4=Oldham |first4=Warren J. |last5=Kinman |first5=William S. |last6=Miller |first6=Jeffrey L. |last7=Reilly |first7=Sean D. |last8=Wende |first8=Allison M. |last9=Berger |first9=Jennifer L. |last10=Inglis |first10=Jeremy |last11=Pollington |first11=Anthony D. |last12=Waidmann |first12=Christopher R. |last13=Meade |first13=Roger A. |last14=Buescher |first14=Kevin L. |last15=Gattiker |first15=James R. |last16=Vander Wiel |first16=Scott A. |last17=Marcy |first17=Peter W. |title=A New Yield Assessment for the Trinity Nuclear Test, 75 Years Later |journal=Nuclear Technology |issn=0029-5450 |date=October 11, 2021 |volume=207 |issue=sup1 |pages=321–325 |doi=10.1080/00295450.2021.1932176 |arxiv=2103.06258 |bibcode=2021NucTe.207S.321S |s2cid=244134027 }}</ref> The desert sand, largely made of [[silica]], melted and became a mildly radioactive light green glass, which was named [[trinitite]].{{sfn|Parekh|Semkow|Torres|Haines|2006|pp=103–120}} The explosion created a crater approximately {{convert|4.7|ft}} deep and {{convert|88|yd}} wide. The radius of the trinitite layer was approximately {{convert|330|yd}}.<ref name=Trinitite>{{cite journal |last1=Hermes |first1=Robert E. |authorlink1=Robert E. Hermes |last2=Strickfaden |first2=William B. |last3=Eckles |first3=Jim |title=A New Look at Trinitite |journal=Nuclear Weapons Journal |year=2005 |pages=2–7 |issue=2 |url=https://www.lanl.gov/orgs/padwp/pdfs/11nwj2-05.pdf |access-date=September 15, 2020 |archive-date=October 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019161711/https://www.lanl.gov/science/weapons_journal/wj_pubs/11nwj2-05.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The 100-foot shot tower was completely vaporized. At the time of detonation, the surrounding mountains were illuminated "brighter than daytime" for one to two seconds, and the heat was reported as "being as hot as an oven" at the base camp. The observed colors of the illumination changed from purple to green and eventually to white. The roar of the shock wave took 40 seconds to reach the observers. It was felt over {{convert|100|mi}} away, and the [[mushroom cloud]] reached {{convert|7.5|mi}} in height.{{sfn|Smyth|1945|pp=247–254}}
Many observers recalled their amazement at the light from the explosion. Conant wrote, "The enormity of the light and its length quite stunned me". Lawrence, {{convert|27|mi}} away, wrote of being "enveloped with a warm brilliant yellow white light—from darkness to brilliant sunshine in an instant".{{r|wellerstein20150716}} Ralph Carlisle Smith, watching from Compania Hill, wrote:{{blockquote|I was staring straight ahead with my open left eye covered by a welder's glass and my right eye remaining open and uncovered. Suddenly, my right eye was blinded by a light which appeared instantaneously all about without any build up of intensity. My left eye could see the ball of fire start up like a tremendous bubble or nob-like mushroom. I dropped the glass from my left eye almost immediately and watched the light climb upward. The light intensity fell rapidly, hence did not blind my left eye but it was still amazingly bright. It turned yellow, then red, and then [[ionized air glow|beautiful purple]]. At first it had a translucent character, but shortly turned to a tinted or colored white smoke appearance. The ball of fire seemed to rise in something of toadstool effect. Later the column proceeded as a cylinder of white smoke; it seemed to move ponderously. A hole was punched through the clouds, but two fog rings appeared well above the white smoke column. There was a spontaneous cheer from the observers. Dr. von Neumann said, "that was at least 5,000 tons and probably a lot more."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wsmr.army.mil/PAO/Trinity/Pages/RalphSmithseyewitnessaccountoftheTrinitytriptowatchblast.aspx |title=Ralph Smith's eyewitness account of the Trinity trip to watch blast |publisher=White Sands Missile Range, Public Affairs Office |access-date=August 24, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140904084107/http://www.wsmr.army.mil/PAO/Trinity/Pages/RalphSmithseyewitnessaccountoftheTrinitytriptowatchblast.aspx |archive-date=September 4, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>}}

Mary Argo was the only female staff member to be officially invited to watch the test. [[Joan Hinton]] snuck in to watch the test despite not being invited:<ref name=howesherzenberg2003>{{cite book | author=Ruth H. Howes | author-link=Ruth Howes|author2=Caroline L. Herzenberg
| author2-link=Caroline Herzenberg|publisher=Temple University Press | year = 2003| title=Their Day in the Sun: Women of the Manhattan Project | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ys0N4rFgt6UC&pg=PA51 | pages=51,56| isbn=9781592131921}}</ref> <blockquote>It was like being at the bottom of an ocean of light. We were bathed in it from all directions. The light withdrew into the bomb as if the bomb sucked it up. Then it turned purple and blue and went up and up and up. We were still talking in whispers when the cloud reached the level where it was struck by the rising sunlight so it cleared out the natural clouds. We saw a cloud that was dark and red at the bottom and daylight on the top. Then suddenly the sound reached us. It was very sharp and rumbled and all the mountains were rumbling with it. We suddenly started talking out loud and felt exposed to the whole world.</blockquote>

In his official report on the test, Thomas Farrell (who initially exclaimed, "The long-hairs have let it get away from them!"<ref>{{cite book |last1=Reed |first1=Bruce Cameron |title=The History and Science of the Manhattan Project |date=2019 |publisher=[[Springer Science]] |isbn=978-3-662-58174-2 |page=351 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YtaIDwAAQBAJ&q=%22The+long-hairs+have+let+it+get+away+from+them!%22&pg=PA351 |access-date=October 7, 2020 |archive-date=September 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928191000/https://books.google.com/books?id=YtaIDwAAQBAJ&q=%22The+long-hairs+have+let+it+get+away+from+them!%22&pg=PA351#v=snippet&q=%22The%20long-hairs%20have%20let%20it%20get%20away%20from%20them!%22&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>) wrote: {{blockquote|The lighting effects beggared description. The whole country was lighted by a searing light with the intensity many times that of the midday sun. It was golden, purple, violet, gray, and blue. It lighted every peak, crevasse and ridge of the nearby mountain range with a clarity and beauty that cannot be described but must be seen to be imagined&nbsp;...<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/key-issues/nuclear-weapons/history/pre-cold-war/hiroshima-nagasaki/decision-drop-bomb-chronology.htm |title=Chronology on Decision to Bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki |access-date=November 30, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090827103545/http://www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/key-issues/nuclear-weapons/history/pre-cold-war/hiroshima-nagasaki/decision-drop-bomb-chronology.htm |archive-date=August 27, 2009 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref>}}

[[William L. Laurence]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' had been transferred temporarily to the Manhattan Project at Groves's request in early 1945.{{sfn|Groves|1962|pp=325–326}} Groves had arranged for Laurence to view significant events, including Trinity and the atomic bombing of Japan. Laurence wrote press releases with the help of the Manhattan Project's public relations staff.{{sfn|Jones|1985|p=554}} He later recalled: {{blockquote|A loud cry filled the air. The little groups that hitherto had stood rooted to the earth like desert plants broke into dance, the rhythm of primitive man dancing at one of his fire festivals at the coming of Spring.{{sfn|Laurence|1946|p=14}}}}

After the initial euphoria of witnessing the explosion had passed, Bainbridge told Oppenheimer, "Now we are all sons of bitches."{{sfn|Bainbridge|1975|p=41}} Rabi noticed Oppenheimer's reaction: "I'll never forget his walk"; Rabi recalled, "I'll never forget the way he stepped out of the car&nbsp;... his walk was like ''[[High Noon]]''&nbsp;... this kind of strut. He had done it."{{sfn|Monk|2012|pp=456–457}}

Oppenheimer later recalled that, while witnessing the explosion, he thought of a verse from a [[Hindu]] holy book, the ''[[Bhagavad Gita]]'' (XI,12):
{{Verse translation|lang=sa|italicsoff=y|
दिवि सूर्यसहस्रस्य भवेद्युगपदुत्थिता।
यदि भाः सदृशी सा स्याद्भासस्तस्य महात्मनः।।
|If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky,
that would be like the splendor of the mighty one.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gitasupersite.iitk.ac.in/srimad?language=dv&field_chapter_value=11&field_nsutra_value=12&choose=1 |date=September 2, 2017 |title=Bhagavad Gita XI.12 |website=Gita Supersite by [[Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur]] |access-date=November 22, 2019 |archive-date=August 4, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230804015213/https://www.gitasupersite.iitk.ac.in/srimad?language=dv&field_chapter_value=11&field_nsutra_value=12&choose=1 |url-status=live }}</ref>
}}

Years later he would explain that another verse had also entered his head at that time:
{{blockquote|We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the ''Bhagavad Gita''; [[Vishnu]] is trying to persuade [[Arjuna|the Prince]] that he should do his duty and, to impress him, takes on [[Vishvarupa|his multi-armed form]] and says, 'Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.<ref name="The Decision to Drop the Bomb"/>{{efn|1=Oppenheimer spoke these words in the television documentary ''[https://archive.org/details/90984-the-decision-to-drop-the-bomb-vwr The Decision to Drop the Bomb]'' (1965).<ref name="The Decision to Drop the Bomb">{{cite web |url=https://www.atomicarchive.com/media/videos/oppenheimer.html |title=J. Robert Oppenheimer on the Trinity test (1965) |access-date=26 April 2023 |publisher=Atomic Archive |archive-date=May 16, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516104658/http://www.atomicarchive.com/Movies/Movie8.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> Oppenheimer read the original text in [[Sanskrit]], "{{IAST|kālo'smi lokakṣayakṛtpravṛddho lokānsamāhartumiha pravṛttaḥ}}" (XI,32),<ref>{{cite web |access-date=October 24, 2012 |url=https://www.asitis.com/11/32.html |title=Chapter 11. The Universal Form, text 32 |publisher=Bhagavad As It Is |archive-date=November 17, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121117120052/http://www.asitis.com/11/32.html |url-status=live }}</ref> which he translated as "I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds". In the literature, the quote usually appears in the form ''shatterer'' of worlds, because this was the form in which it first appeared in print, in [[Time (magazine)|''Time'' magazine]] on November 8, 1948.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=November 8, 1948 |title=The Eternal Apprentice |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,853367-8,00.html |access-date=March 6, 2011 |archive-date=December 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131216042355/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,853367-8,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> It later appeared in Robert Jungk's ''Brighter than a Thousand Suns: A Personal History of the Atomic Scientists'' (1958),{{sfn|Jungk|1958|p=201}} which was based on an interview with Oppenheimer. See Hijiya, ''The Gita of Robert Oppenheimer''{{sfn|Hijiya|2000|pp=123–124}}}}}}

John R. Lugo was flying a U.S. Navy transport at {{convert|10000|ft|m}}, {{convert|30|mi|km}} east of [[Albuquerque]], en route to the west coast. "My first impression was, like, the sun was coming up in the south. What a ball of fire! It was so bright it lit up the cockpit of the plane." Lugo radioed Albuquerque. He got no explanation for the blast but was told, "Don't fly south."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://larrycalloway.com/historic.html?_recordnum=105 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051018112209/http://larrycalloway.com/historic.html?_recordnum=105 |archive-date=October 18, 2005 |date=May 10, 2005 |title=The Trinity Test: Eyewitnesses |first=Larry |last=Calloway }}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="220">
File:Trinity-ground-zero-men-in-crater.jpg|Ground zero after the test
File:Trinity Test Fireball 25ms.jpg|The ''Trinity'' explosion, 25 ms after detonation. The viewed fireball hemisphere's highest point in this image is about {{convert|200|m}} high.
File:Trinity crater (annotated) 2.jpg|An aerial photograph of the Trinity crater shortly after the test.{{efn|1=The small crater in the southeast corner was from the earlier test explosion of {{convert|108|tonTNT}}.}}
</gallery>