"Forest Fire" responsible for a 2.5mi *mushroom cloud*?
ken
bbrow07 at students.bbk.ac.uk
Mon Sep 13 04:03:50 PDT 2004
J.A. Terranson wrote:
> On Sun, 12 Sep 2004, Thomas Shaddack wrote:
>>The forest fire claim sounds more plausible in this
>>regard. An existing cloud could be used for masking, though.
> Wait a minute: since when does a forest fire create explosions? Or have
> enough ground force to push up a mushroom cloud?
[...]
> That of course brings us full circle: how many fuels can produce a blast
> which results in a 2+ mile mushroom? That's a *lot* of explosive force.
Doesn't have to work like that. The mushroom cloud is not "pushed
up" by blast, it's carried up by hot air rising, which is replaced
by cooler air rushing in below.
There was a visible mushroom cloud at Hamburg in 1943 - I'm not
sure but I suspect that that may have been the event that put the
phrase into the language.
FWIW the BBC is now saying that the NKs are claiming it was a
civil engineering explosion connected with a hydro project.
As with other list members I assume that if the explosion was
nuclear someone would have detected EM from it immediately &
radioactive particles soon after.
And I also assume, perhaps with less justification, that at least
some of those someones would have made the knowledge public - it
must include at least military early warning organisation of
China, Russia & the US, and very possibly Japan, SK, UK & maybe
other countries as well, and also probably a number of space
agencies and academic researchers. Would they all conspire to
suppress knowledge of NK nuclear explosion?
And if there was such a test, how long before China stomped all
over them. Last thing they want is a looney dictator with nukes on
their borders (If only to pre-empt Russia, US, or Japan
intervening). Even if both the Chinese state capitalists and the
North Korean absolute divine monarchy still use the locally
redundant word "Communist" when describing themselves to us
Western barbarians.
Sometimes my friend's enemy isn't my enemy's friend.
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