Uploaded June 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
[NOTE: at 8:39 I state that Co-60 in Trinitite was formed by neutron activation of Co-59 in steel components. Another, more likely pathway is the neutron activation of Fe-58 in steel into Fe-59, which decays via beta emission into Co-60 with a half-life of 44.5 days.]
Trinitite is glass formed from sand melted by nuclear explosions - particularly the very first, the Trinity Test, detonated near Alamogordo, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945. A diverse mineral found in many forms and colours and containing a witch's brew of radioisotopes, the composition of Trinitite reveals much about the chemistry, physics, and engineering pioneered by the Manhattan Project.
0:00 Introduction
1:02 Trinity Yield Analysis
1:57 Sampling Sherman Tanks
3:28 Ground Zero
4:27 Naming Trinitite
5:00 Forms of Trinitite
5:36 Mineralogy of Trinitite
6:24 Trinitite Formation Theories
7:27 Trinitite Colours
7:56 Trinitite Trace Elements
9:01 Authenticating Trinitite
10:11 Safety of Trinitite
11:00 Politics of Trinitite
11:49 Collecting Trinitite
12:40 Outro
SOURCES
atlasobscura.com/articles/trinitite-trinity-test-mineral-cultural-jewelry
helfordgeoscience.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Eby-et-al-2015.pdf
content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,854500-1,00.html
web.archive.org/web/20080726072410/http://www.wsmr.army.mil/pao/TrinitySite/NewTrinititeTheory.htm
gizmodo.com/researchers-find-forbidden-quasicrystal-in-wake-of-nu-1846917496
web.archive.org/web/20210524001335/http://enformable.com/2014/07/authenticating-trinitite-nearly-70-years-later
reddit.com/r/Radioactive_Rocks/comments/rktzq6/trinitite_gamma_spectroscopy_and_an_interesting
gammaspectacular.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=825&srsltid=AfmBOopoM3wMpfiXCmlDaIltmE32Qo_SdtRvKv_gy0Bvj33s9O2Qg54I
orau.org/health-physics-museum/collection/nuclear-weapons/trinity/trinitite.html
thebulletin.org/2020/07/in-their-own-words-trinity-at-75
tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00295450.2021.1951538#d1e263
pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2101350118
[NOTE: at 8:39 I state that Co-60 in Trinitite was formed by neutron activation of Co-59 in steel components. Another, more likely pathway is the neutron activation of Fe-58 in steel into Fe-59, which decays via beta emission into Co-60 with a half-life of 44.5 days.]
Trinitite is glass formed from sand melted by nuclear explosions - particularly the very first, the Trinity Test, detonated near Alamogordo, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945. A diverse mineral found in many forms and colours and containing a witch's brew of radioisotopes, the composition of Trinitite reveals much about the chemistry, physics, and engineering pioneered by the Manhattan Project.
0:00 Introduction
1:02 Trinity Yield Analysis
1:57 Sampling Sherman Tanks
3:28 Ground Zero
4:27 Naming Trinitite
5:00 Forms of Trinitite
5:36 Mineralogy of Trinitite
6:24 Trinitite Formation Theories
7:27 Trinitite Colours
7:56 Trinitite Trace Elements
9:01 Authenticating Trinitite
10:11 Safety of Trinitite
11:00 Politics of Trinitite
11:49 Collecting Trinitite
12:40 Outro
SOURCES
atlasobscura.com/articles/trinitite-trinity-test-mineral-cultural-jewelry
helfordgeoscience.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Eby-et-al-2015.pdf
content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,854500-1,00.html
web.archive.org/web/20080726072410/http://www.wsmr.army.mil/pao/TrinitySite/NewTrinititeTheory.htm
gizmodo.com/researchers-find-forbidden-quasicrystal-in-wake-of-nu-1846917496
web.archive.org/web/20210524001335/http://enformable.com/2014/07/authenticating-trinitite-nearly-70-years-later
reddit.com/r/Radioactive_Rocks/comments/rktzq6/trinitite_gamma_spectroscopy_and_an_interesting
gammaspectacular.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=825&srsltid=AfmBOopoM3wMpfiXCmlDaIltmE32Qo_SdtRvKv_gy0Bvj33s9O2Qg54I
orau.org/health-physics-museum/collection/nuclear-weapons/trinity/trinitite.html
thebulletin.org/2020/07/in-their-own-words-trinity-at-75
tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00295450.2021.1951538#d1e263
pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2101350118
