why is a mushroom shaped cloud is formed when nuclear explosion takes place?

Answer 1

Mushroom cloud
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

The atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan on August 9, 1945A mushroom cloud is a distinctive mushroom-shaped cloud of smoke, flame, or debris resulting from a very large explosion. They are most commonly associated with nuclear explosions, but any sufficiently large blast will produce the same sort of effect. Volcano eruptions and impact events can produce natural mushroom clouds.

Mushroom clouds form as a result of the sudden formation of a large mass of hot low-density gasses near the ground creating a Rayleigh-Taylor instability. The mass of gas rises rapidly, resulting in turbulent vortices curling downward around its edges and drawing up a column of additional smoke and debris in the center to form its "stem". The mass of gas eventually reaches an altitude where it is no longer less dense than the surrounding air and disperses, the debris drawn upward from the ground scattering and drifting back down (see fallout).

The largest mushroom clouds to be photographed resulted from the impact of fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 on the planet Jupiter, some of which rose hundreds of kilometers above the cloud layers.

Answer 2

A couple of people above already answered this answer correctly. However, did you know that if a nuclear explosion takes place in water (above the ocean floor)or high in the atmosphere, the mushroom shaped cloud eminates outward from both the top and bottom of the explosion. The ground stops the mushroom cloud when something explodes the ground.

Answer 3

The source is implosion. When the nuclear core implodes, the force is concentrated within, the radiation expansion is uniform and proportioned and the subsequent rise of the cloud of smoke to the upper atmosphere before dissipating forms that mushroom shape. If there is no ground resistance, there won't be a mushroom-shaped cloud, instead, you'd see a football shape rapidly expanding to and in all directions.

Answer 4

Mushroom clouds form as a result of the sudden formation of a large mass of hot low-density gasses near the ground creating a Rayleigh-Taylor instability. The mass of gas rises rapidly, resulting in turbulent vortices curling downward around its edges and drawing up a column of additional smoke and debris in the center to form its "stem". The mass of gas eventually reaches an altitude where it is no longer less dense than the surrounding air and disperses, the debris drawn upward from the ground scattering and drifting back down

Answer 5

"Mushroom clouds form as a result of the sudden formation of a large mass of hot low-density gasses near the ground creating a Rayleigh-Taylor instability. The mass of gas rises rapidly, resulting in turbulent vortices curling downward around its edges and drawing up a column of additional smoke and debris in the center to form its "stem". The mass of gas eventually reaches an altitude where it is no longer less dense than the surrounding air and disperses, the debris drawn upward from the ground scattering and drifting back down,"

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushroom_cloud

Answer 6

The blast is so great it pulls air in from all directions and is super heated so fast it goes straight up not expanding until very high. Then the air expands greatly. Forming a mushroom cloud

Answer 7

the heat of the explosion shuts up vertical, carrying with it much debris and smoke. when it hit an upper layer of cold air, and it is loosing it's power, it is spreading sideways

Answer 8

In other words Bill.....Everything rushes straight up and then when it hits a certain point and doesn't have the same force, it billows out to the sides.

Answer 9

It would look pretty funny if it was shaped like a egg plant...

Answer 10

heat causes the debris and smoke to rise