page 162 



OUT OF PROXIMITY, DOOM. The Japanese 

 cruiser "Sakawa's" superstructure and hull suffered 

 major damage from the bomb explosion. Visible 

 in the photograph above are the mid and stern 

 sections of the ship, a mass of metallic rubble. In- 

 visible are the breaches in her hull below the 

 waterline, due to which she slowly filled with water 

 and sank. Many observers wondered how a mere 

 shock wave in air could wreck such havoc on a 

 steel ship. The situation can be understood with 

 the use of simple arithmetic. According to a well- 

 known law of physics a gas expands by I /273 of 

 its volume (at zero degrees C.) for every degree 



Centigrade that it rises in temperature. If its 

 temperature rises 273 degrees its volume doubles. 

 But the high temperature instantaneously pro- 

 duced at the heart of the atomic bomb explosion 

 is measured in millions of degrees; the resulting 

 expansion is obviously extremely great. Out of 

 this expansion, so suddenly produced, the over- 

 powering shock wave is born. OPPOSITE. The day 

 following Able Day "Sakawa" sinks slowly beneath 

 the water of the Lagoon. In the background is the 

 battleship "Arkansas" which, like "Sakawa," re- 

 ceived major damage to superstructure, although 

 the battleship's hull received little injury. 



