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sewprenbout WS mmles- an a. Gen hiv, the vertical
easily. It seems to be due to the upper size
velocity ci fali ana the os
.1€ Garticles for
Liat of particles at a given altitude.
the ditierta: isiands cu. of 2. uated. The .
Surveys were made daily to determine the develocity can be est MMNatec in Pwo ways. Particay of these areas of high intensity. Figure 2.3
cles landing ai half the distane+ would have to
includes the surveys of four islands west of
fall at twice the speed of 75-.micron particles.
Engebi. Figure 2.4 includes six islands east
From the graph of island activity versus time,
and southeast of Engebi. As can be seen from
some estimates can be made of the time of
the curves, the results for neighboring islands
arrival of one half of the particles, from which
agree well even though the readings were made
an estimate of the speed of descent from 40,000
hurriedly with a standard gammaionization
ft can be calculated. For the three islands
chamber. All readings were made approximately
nearer Engebi, most of the fall-out had occurred
1 meter off the surface of the ground. In no
before the first observations. However, with
case can it be said that repeated readings were
particles falling so fast, the 50 per cent point
taken at exactly the samepoint.
must have occurred only a little earlier. The
On examination of Fig. 2.3 there are two deffall-out times for the farther three islands are
subject to considerable error, both because of
inite slopes apparent. There is a break between 24 and 48 hr after burst. This break can
the scarcity of points on the built-up portion of
probably be best explained by fall-out occurring
the curves and because of the shifting of winds
during this time. This is reasonable in that
during the intervening period. The latter factor
continued background determinations made by
also introduces uncertainty in the estimate of
TU 3.1.5 at the radiological safety laboratory on
velocity from distance, because the predicted
Parry indicate that fall-out occurred at this
distance of 75-micron fall-out changed with
time. By examining the slopes of these various
time.
lines several interesting findings arise.
After deciding on compromise values for the
It is found that, if I = 1,t™*, where I is intenrate of fall, the particle size can be estimated
from Stokes’ law (assuming the specific gravity
sity in mr/hr and t is time in hours after burst
as determined graphically, the decay up to
of the particles to be 2). The relative amounts
24 hr after burst is proportional to t7!*. This
of different sized active particles originally in
agrees with fission product decay as originally
the cloud at 40,000 ft can then be estimated from
determined by Way and Wigner. Howeverafter
the relative intensities on the islands at some
48 hr the decay is proportional to t™'«4 or t7*+5,
time, for instance, H+100 hr, when fall-out was
This is significantly different from what is
certainly complete. This estimate is probably
usually expected for fission products. Why this
much too low for the small particles on account
should occur was unknown at the time of writing.
of the shift in winds with time. The results are
Whether it is due to particle size, fission chemgiven in Table 2.5. When plotted they indicate a
istry, etc., cannot be determined without more
range from 60 microns to nearly 300 microns,
data. It is of interest that the change in slope
with an average size of about 160 microns.
did not become apparentuntil after the fall-out
Stokes’ law, together with data on rate of rise
occurring between 24 and 48 hr after burst.
of the fireball, gives an upper limit of about
From Fig. 2.4 it is noted that fall-out was
170 microns for the size of particles at 40,000
continuous from 1 hr to 10 to 20 hr after detonaft. In view of many uncertainties in both calculations, the disagreement is not at all serious,
tion. After these times recognizable decay occurred on the slopes shown in Fig. 2.2 which
It is emphasized that, although this distribuindicates that the decay is proportional to t~!4,
tion of particle sizes may be erroneous with
regard to the initial conditions in the cloud, the
The six islands, Muzin, Kirinian, Bokon,
errors are not of immediate practical signifiBiijiri, Piiraai, and Runit, lie on about the same
cance. It is the size distribution of the partibearings (120 to 135 degrees) from ground zero
cles that reach the ground which is of imporand at distances from 1 mile to about 10 miles.
tance to the people working there. There is no
Taking, from the wind soundings at shot time,
reason to suspect that the calculated distributhe prediction that 75-micron particles, from
tion is seriously in error in this respect.
about 40,000 ft above ground zero, would land

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