Seventy-two years ago, the island of Elugelab in the Pacific Ocean disappeared instantly after a 6-meter tall, 20-ton hydrogen bomb unleashed an explosive yield of 10.4 megatons.
On November 1, 1952, the United States detonated the first hydrogen bomb, nicknamed “Mike”, as part of the nuclear test series known as Operation Ivy, according to Interesting Engineering. This was the first full-scale test featuring the groundbreaking design of American-Hungarian physicist Edward Teller and Polish mathematician Stanislaw Ulam. The bomb was situated on a small uninhabited rock island named Elugelab, part of the Enewetak Atoll, which consists of 40 smaller islands and an oval-shaped coral reef in the South Pacific.
The mushroom cloud created by the explosion of the Mike hydrogen bomb. (Photo: Wikimedia).
Mike quickly unleashed its tremendous power. The once-solid Elugelab island vaporized instantly due to the explosion, leaving behind a massive crater measuring 1.9 kilometers in diameter and 50 meters deep. The blast generated a tsunami reaching heights of 6 meters, sweeping away vegetation on surrounding islands. Gordon Dean, the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, summarized the test results to President Dwight D. Eisenhower with the words “Elugelab Island has disappeared.”
The explosion created a fireball with a diameter of 5 kilometers. Within 90 seconds, the mushroom cloud rose to 17 kilometers and climbed to 33 kilometers after one minute. Ultimately, the cloud stabilized at an altitude of 41 kilometers, with the mushroom cap measuring 161 kilometers in diameter and the stem spanning 32 kilometers. The explosive yield recorded was unprecedented, at 10.4 megatons. A military report quoted witnesses from several ships at sea, stating that the explosion was indescribable. Accompanied by a blinding light, the heat wave could be felt immediately at a distance of 48 to 56 kilometers. The enormous fireball appeared on the horizon like a rising sun, rapidly expanding after a moment of suspension.
Mike symbolizes a remarkable engineering achievement, standing 6 meters tall and weighing 20 tons. Although it was not suitable for deployment as a conventional weapon, its significance lies in being the first nuclear device to produce such a powerful explosion through thermonuclear fusion (the process of fusing atomic nuclei) rather than solely through nuclear fission (the process of splitting atomic nuclei). The bomb’s function relied on using fission to initiate the fusion process within liquid deuterium, a heavy isotope of hydrogen.
Mike’s design resembled an industrial assembly more than a traditional weapon. The bomb was housed in a wrinkled aluminum structure, accompanied by a 30-meter tall signal tower for communication with the control room onboard the USS Estes. Due to the use of liquid deuterium fuel, a large refrigeration plant was required to maintain deuterium at temperatures close to absolute zero. The electricity for this complex assembly came from a 3,000-kilowatt power plant.
The Ivy Mike test also led to the discovery of two new elements. Shortly after the bomb detonated, a fleet of U.S. Air Force aircraft flew through the mushroom cloud, equipped with modified fuel tanks to collect and filter debris in the atmosphere. The filters on the aircraft were sealed with lead and sent to Los Alamos, New Mexico, for analysis.
Nuclear scientist Albert Ghiorso at the University of California, Berkeley, was one of those intrigued by the scientific potential of the filter. Ghiorso speculated that the filter might contain atoms that had transformed into elements 99 and 100, which had been predicted but not yet discovered, through radioactive decay. Along with chemists Stanley Gerald Thompson and Glenn Seaborg, Ghiorso obtained half a filter paper from the Ivy Mike test. On it, they discovered the existence of elements 99 and 100. In 1955, the two new elements were named einsteinium and fermium in honor of Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi.
The nuclear testing at Enewetak Atoll concluded in 1958. In 1977 and 2000, the U.S. military conducted decontamination efforts on Enewetak and the surrounding islands. Scientists predict that the island will be suitable for human habitation by 2026 – 2027.
