trinitite

English

Etymology

From Trinity +‎ -ite.

Noun

trinitite (usually uncountable, plural trinitites)

1. The glassy residue left on the desert floor after the Trinity nuclear bomb test of 1945 at Alamogordo, New Mexico, USA.
2. by extension, any melt glasses left by atomic bombs

Synonyms

(Trinity test site):

• Alamogordo glass

Hypernyms

(Trinity test site):

• trinitite (melt glasses from nuclear explosions)
• atomsite (melt glasses from US nuclear bomb test sites)

(nuclear melt glass):

• melt glass (minerals melted by exposure to extreme heat and vitrified)

Hyponyms

(nuclear melt glass):

• trinitite (Trinity test melt glass)
• Alamogordo glass (Trinity test melt glass)
• atomsite (melt glasses from US nuclear bomb test sites)
• kharitonchik (melt glasses from the Soviet nuke bomb Semipalatinsk Test Site in Kazakhstan)

See also

• impactite (metamorphic minerals caused by meteor heating of non-meteoritic materials)
• impact glass (melt glasses caused by meteor heating of non-meteoritic materials)
• fulgurite (melt glasses caused by lightning strikes)
• fusion crust (metamorphic minerals on the surface of meteorites caused by atmospheric entry heating)

Further reading

• David Barthelmy (1997–2024) “Trinitite”, in Webmineral Mineralogy Database.
• “trinitite”, in Mindat.org‎^[1], Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, 2000–2024.