2006-12-16 18:45:34 · 4 answers · asked by Lai Yu Zeng 4 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
The mushroom shape is due to the intense fireball that
is so hot that it rises us though the atmostphere until
it cannot rise anymore because it is too high and the air
is not dense enough to support it and it cools down, at
which point it flattens out.
You can see this happen in miniature if you took the
gunpowder out of a bunch of firecrackers and lit it ... it
would flame and smoke and all the hot air would rise up
in a ball ... not quite the same ... but close the same
principle.
2006-12-16 19:35:31 · answer #1 · answered by themountainviewguy 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Mushroom clouds form as a result of the sudden formation of a large mass of hot low-density gases 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 ...
2006-12-17 02:48:53 · answer #2 · answered by Meh... 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋
i do`nt know but i`ll take a crack at this one.i think that air is thicker at the surface and thinner higher up.the energy from the blast takes the path of least resistance and moves upward.i think it then moves outward because of the pull of earths gravity on the solid matter contained within.this could cause the mushroom shape.
2006-12-17 02:56:01 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
+ It is a matter of Physics.
2006-12-17 02:48:19 · answer #4 · answered by Clamdigger 6 · 5⤊ 2⤋