What is Trinitite?

by Rachel Armstrong

sample of trinitite at the NM Mineralogical Museum on the NMT campus

Trinitite, shown in the photograph on the left, is the grayish-green substance that formed from the Trinity Test, the first nuclear explosion that took place July 16, 1945, near Alamagordo, New Mexico. The heat from the blast melted the soil, fusing it into a glass-like consistency.

Trinitite is measurably radioactive, though not enough to be dangerous. The radioactivity of any given specimen depends on a variety of factors, including the size of the piece and its distance from ground zero. As time passes, the radionuclides created by the explosion decay and the Trinitite becomes less radioactive.

By the early 1950s, the United States government had excavated and buried almost all of the Trinitite remaining at the Trinity Site and strictly prohibited the subsequent removal of material. Prior to this, however, the public had acquired a large amount of the material, which is why you can still see samples today.

© 2004 Society for Technical Communication Trinitite Chapter
New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology
c/o Humanities Department, 801 Leroy Place, Socorro, NM 87801 -- Email: stc@nmt.edu

Page last updated September 20, 2004 by sdelap