thumb|upright=1.2|Trinitite
Trinitite, also known as atomsite or Alamogordo glass, that was melted by the atomic blast. It was first academically described in American Mineralogist in 1948.
It is usually light green, although red trinitite was also found in one section of the blast site, It is mildly radioactive but safe to handle. Pieces of the material remain at the Trinity site , although most of it was bulldozed and buried by the United States Atomic Energy Commission in 1953.
Formation
thumb|Pieces of trinitite
In 2005, it was theorized by Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist Robert E. Hermes and independent investigator William Strickfaden that much of the glass was formed by sand which was drawn up inside the fireball and then rained down in a liquid form. In a 2010 article in Geology Today, Nelson Eby of University of Massachusetts Lowell and Robert Hermes describe trinitite:
This was supported by a 2011 study based on nuclear imaging and spectrometric techniques. Dark green, grey, and black trinitite is theorised by researchers to contain varying concentrations of material from the bomb's steel support structure, while red trinitite contains material originating from copper electrical wiring.
An estimated of heat energy went into forming the glass. As the temperature required to melt the sand into the observed glass form was about , this was estimated to have been the minimum temperature the sand was exposed to. Material within the blast fireball was superheated for an estimated 2–3 seconds before solidification.
The detonation left large quantities of trinitite scattered around the crater,
Composition
thumb|left|A near-hollow sample of trinitite backlit to show light passing through the material
thumb|upright=1.8|Levels of radioactivity in the Trinity glass at the time of explosion from two different samples as measured by gamma spectroscopy on lumps of the glass
The chaotic nature of trinitite's formation has led to variations in both its structure and composition. The quasicrystal research was led by geologist Luca Bindi of the University of Florence and Paul Steinhardt, after he theorised red trinitite was likely to contain quasicrystals as they often contain elements that rarely combine. The structure has a formula of .
Nuclear forensics
thumb|right|The mushroom cloud seconds after the detonation
A 2010 study in the open access journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences examined trinitite's potential value to the field of nuclear forensics. Prior to this research, it was assumed that trinitite's components fused identically, and their original composition could not be discerned. The study demonstrated that glass from nuclear detonations could provide information about the device and associated components, such as packaging.
During the 2010s, millions of dollars in research were undertaken to examine trinitite and determine what information the glasses held that could help explain the nuclear explosion that created them.
Researchers involved in the discovery of quasicrystals speculated that their work could improve efforts to investigate nuclear weapons proliferation because quasicrystals do not decay, unlike other evidence produced by nuclear weapons testing. Laser ablation was first successfully used to identify the isotopic signature unique to the uranium within the bomb from a sample of trinitite, demonstrating this faster method's effectiveness.
Cultural impact
thumb|upright|Sign at the test site warning of the illegality of collecting trinitite from the location
Trinitite was not initially considered remarkable in the context of the nuclear test and ongoing war, but when the war ended, visitors began to notice the glass and collect it as souvenirs. and 1946. It is now illegal to take the remaining material from the site, much of which has been removed by the US government and buried elsewhere in New Mexico; however, material that was taken prior to this prohibition is still in the hands of collectors and available legally in mineral shops. Counterfeit trinitite is also on the market; trinitite's authenticity requires scientific analysis. and the Corning Museum of Glass;, the National Atomic Testing Museum houses a paperweight containing trinitite. In the United Kingdom, the Science Museum Group's collection contains a trinitite sample, as does the Canadian War Museum in Canada. There is also a Trinitite sample display at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima, Japan.
The SETI Institute, which seeks to find and research signs of intelligent life elsewhere in space, stated in 2021 that trinitite was to be included in their library of objects connected to "transformational moments" of potential interest to intelligent extraterrestrials. The sculpture Trinity Cube by Trevor Paglen, exhibited in 2019 at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego as part of a themed collection of Paglen's art titled Sights Unseen, is partially made from trinitite. The c.1988 artwork Trinitite, Ground Zero, Trinity Site, New Mexico by photographer Patrick Nagatani is housed at the Denver Art Museum.
Similar materials
Occasionally, the name trinitite is broadly applied to all glassy residues of nuclear bomb testing, not just the Trinity test. Black vitreous fragments of fused sand that had been solidified by the heat of a nuclear explosion were created by French testing at the Reggane site in Algeria. Following the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, it was discovered in 2016 that between 0.6% and 2.5% of sand on local beaches was fused glass spheres formed during the bombing. Like trinitite, the glass contains material from the local environment, including materials from buildings destroyed in the attack. The material has been called hiroshimaite. Kharitonchiki (singular: kharitonchik, ) is an analog of trinitite found in Semipalatinsk Test Site in Kazakhstan at ground zeroes of Soviet atmospheric nuclear tests. The porous black material is named after one of the leading Russian nuclear weapons scientists, Yulii Borisovich Khariton.thumb|A fulgurite from the Mauritanian desertTrinitite, in common with several similar naturally occurring minerals, is a melt glass. While trinitite and materials of similar formation processes such as lavinite are anthropogenic, fulgurites, found in many thunderstorm-prone regions and in deserts, are naturally-formed, glassy materials and are generated by lightning striking sediments such as sand.