"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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