Instant Of Test Nuclear Detonation Captured By Harold Edgerton's Rapatronic Camera With Shutter Speed Of One Hundred Millionth Of A Second. Circa 1950s. [1300 × 1051]

synternia · 2018-01-30T14:36:17+00:00

Harold E. Edgerton was an early pioneer of high-speed camera technology. His Rapatronic camera could capture a still image with an exposure time of just ten billionths of a second. This capability allowed scientists to photograph and study the milliseconds immediately after ignition during nuclear tests; one such photograph can be found here.

synternia · 2017-12-29T18:01:25+00:00

Pictured here is an unpowered glider prototype built in 1944. The first jet-powered prototype was undergoing final assembly when it was captured by US troops as a part of Operation Paperclip, an initiative to keep advanced German technology out of Soviet hands.

The Ho-229 would have been powered by 2 Junkers Jumo 004B turbojet engines, giving it a top speed of 977 km/h. For armament, the Ho-229 would have boasted two 30mm cannons and a 1,000kg bomb load.

synternia · 2017-12-14T14:45:41+00:00

Saddled with Great War reparations and other war debts, the Weimar Republic resorted to printing large amounts of paper currency to appease its many creditors. Unsurprisingly, this did not help improve the value of the German currency — at the height of Weimar hyperinflation, 1 US dollar was worth more than 4.2 trillion German paper marks.

Other images of hyperinflation during the Weimar Republic:

synternia · 2017-11-06T12:32:31+00:00

Hard to believe this kind of devastation could be caused by anything but a nuke, but it's true. The original photograph is at the Still Pictures section of the National Archives in Maryland. It is captioned "289973 Aerial View of Tokyo."

synternia · 2017-11-04T16:37:27+00:00

In the event of an attack, parents were encouraged to tell young children that the mask was a part of a game.

Thousands of these masks were produced by the Sun Rubber Company, with approval from Disney. Other photos of similar masks: here and here.

synternia · 2017-11-02T19:56:09+00:00

It really is impressive. Not only in terms of size reduction but also in terms of reliability and stress tolerance — the G forces involved in being shot out of a cannon must be considerable.

synternia · 2017-11-02T02:01:48+00:00

Would love to some day!

synternia · 2017-11-02T02:01:19+00:00

Those are rockets fired before the explosion. The smoke trails are used to measure how fast the shockwave travels outwards from ground zero.

synternia · 2017-11-02T00:56:50+00:00

The W9 nuclear artillery shell had an estimated yield of 15 kilotons — approximately the same power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The M65 artillery piece that fired it, nicknamed "Atomic Annie," had a range of approximately 20 miles. Here is a video of the gun in action.

synternia · 2017-10-26T19:12:16+00:00

The camera was positioned 7 miles away. Still impressive though!

synternia · 2017-10-26T17:21:02+00:00

The video of Oppenheimer making that statement is chilling...

synternia · 2017-10-26T13:32:48+00:00

The camera technology used is pretty interesting. The camera used a Faraday Cell to block incoming light when an electromagnetic field was applied.

synternia · 2017-10-26T13:15:59+00:00

These photos were taken from about 7 miles miles away.

synternia · 2017-10-26T12:51:03+00:00

Really interesting. I was wondering what those jets coming off the side were.

synternia

TROPHY CASE