BOMBS AT BIKINI 



column. In other words, it may have been a ^'shadow" 

 produced in the upward-sweeping water by the rela- 

 tively immovable ARKANSAS. 



It is estimated that the column contained several 

 million tons of water. Early guesses were that ten 

 million tons were tossed up, but later computations 

 suggest that two million tons may be a more accurate 

 figure. This amount of water would fill a swimming 

 pool about twenty feet deep and nearly half a mile in 

 diameter. 



But the column was far from being solid water; 

 actually it was about 99 percent air. A shell fired from 

 a large gun could probably have passed straight 

 through the column with little difficulty. Probably the 

 water was more or less concentrated in the outer part 

 of the column, with the center relatively empty. Some 

 scientists believe that if suitable lighting had been 

 provided inside the column, a person flying directly 

 above could have peered down as far as sea level, and 

 possibly even down to the very bottom of the lagoon 

 itself. 



The column wall was not smooth, but was inlaid 

 with thousands of separate spikes, or column side jets, 

 each as large as a destroyer. As the cauliflower ap- 

 proached maturity, these side jets began to fall. More 

 and more their points turned downward to form a 

 white cascade thousands of feet high. This falling cur- 

 tain gathered speed, carrying with it thousands of tons 

 of air in the cylindrical plunge back into the lagoon. 



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