This term refers to the cloud of dust and smoke that occurs after a nuclear explosion. It would be better, of course, never to know what a mushroom cloud is. This radioactive cloud is named in this way because of the outward resemblance noticed by scientists to the fruiting bodies of ordinary mushrooms that can be found and collected in the forest. But mushrooms in the folk art of various countries are symbols of fertility and vitality. And the nuclear mushroom, on the contrary, is a symbol of destruction and wars.
However, the mushroom cloud is not only a distinctive feature of nuclear and thermonuclear explosions that occurred on earth. It is also formed during other, non-nuclear explosions of sufficient power, as well as during eruptions of large volcanoes, during strong fires, or when meteorites fall on the soil. Its height directly depends on the power of the occurred or produced explosion or impact, and on the quality of the filling: the substances used in the process.
Features
How is it formed and how is this phenomenon characterized? A nuclear fungus is formed when raised from the surface of the earthdust cloud. In this case, the air, heated by the explosion to certain high temperatures, tends upward and twists in an annular vortex. The whirlwind pulls up the "leg" of the fungus, which consists of dust and smoky masses and looks like a pillar. And on the sides of the formed vortex, the air is already cooling and resembles the most ordinary cloud (steam condenses into water drops) or a “cap” of a mushroom. Accompanying a ground nuclear explosion, the mushroom is thus one of the consequences of its creation. It is characteristic that when an explosion is carried out on water or in air, such a phenomenon does not occur.
Nuclear explosion mushroom
What happens after the end of the rise of dust and smoke from the surface of the earth? Nuclear fungus is already a cumulus rain cloud, strongly developed in height. It naturally has a mushroom shape (cap and stem). It is known that with a powerful explosion (up to a megaton), it can be up to 20 kilometers in height! From this cloud, if the explosion was of sufficient power, it usually rains, capable of extinguishing the fires that arose as a result of the explosion.
Radioactive cloud
It represents the greatest danger immediately after the explosion, nuclear and thermonuclear, carried out on earth. Particles of radioactive dust containing harmful substances act as condensates. And the water vapor settles on them, concentrating around in drops. The cloud rises and cools. Water droplets are formed inside, which fall down onto the soil as radioactiverain (possible variants of snow, hail). Such precipitation falling from a radioactive mushroom cloud can cause significant harm to the national economy and pose a threat to all living things.
When formed
Nuclear fungus, as already mentioned, does not occur in all types of nuclear or thermonuclear explosions. If they were carried out, for example, in outer space, deep underground or under water, as well as in the earth's atmosphere, then neither a mushroom nor a cloud is formed.
Ominous symbol
In modern literature and art, the nuclear mushroom is identified with an ominous symbol of war, and its image has entered some world paintings as the embodiment of evil and a threat to everything living on planet Earth. In fantastic literary works and films describing the future of the Earth after nuclear wars, this symbol is used by the authors quite often, and always in a negative and ominous way. After all, nuclear evil has no future, but only ruins and a past that people who survived the disasters remember.
