'Extreme' crystal that formed in 1945 nuclear bomb test is unlike anything scientists have seen
Live Science • • general
Key Points:
- In 1945, the first nuclear bomb test at Trinity, New Mexico, created trinitite, a pale-green-and-red glass formed by the intense heat and pressure of the blast, which vaporized nearby materials and fused desert sand into glass.
- Researchers have discovered unique crystals in red trinitite, including a newly identified clathrate crystal where silicon forms cages trapping copper and calcium atoms, marking the first clathrate found as a nuclear blast byproduct.
- The extreme temperatures (over 2,700°F) and pressures (up to 8 gigapascals) during the Trinity explosion created mineral structures not typically found in nature, offering insights into matter organization under extreme conditions.
- This study, published in PNAS, expands understanding of mineral formation beyond laboratory capabilities, though the new clathrate crystal is unlikely to be a precursor to previously known silicon-rich quasicrystals in trinitite.
- Such findings demonstrate how extreme events like nuclear blasts can generate novel mineral phases, enriching scientific knowledge of materials formed under extraordinary environmental stresses.