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For the same reason they form following any explosion: heated air from explosion is lighter than surrounding air, making it buoyant and it therefor rises. The cloud is visible because of entrained debris, vaporized metal, smoke from fires, etc. produced by the explosion (nuclear or not). Nuclear mushroom clouds are simply more spectacular because more energy was released, making them hotter.

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Q: Why does mushroom cloud form in after a nuclear explosion?
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Why do large explosions form into mushroom clouds?

A mushroom cloud is a distinctive pyrocumulus mushroom-shaped cloud of condensed water vapor or debris resulting from a very large explosion. They are most commonly associated with nuclear explosions, but any sufficiently large blast will produce the same sort of effect. Mushroom clouds are formed by many sorts of large explosions under earth gravity, though they are best known for their appearance after nuclear detonations. Inside a mushroom cloud: cooler air is drawn into the rising toroidal fireball, which itself cools into the familiar cloud appearance.


Type of nuclear detonation creates Hugh crater mushroom cloud?

A low altitude detonation or a groundburst will cause a crater to form. Nuclear detonations that take place near the ground (but not underground) will create a mushroom cloud (this is caused by a Raleigh-Taylor instability). I have noted that a lower level detonation close to the ground will suck up material into the fireball and create a more pronounced stem.


What two things form a cloud?

Air and water form a cloud.


Which clouds develop tornadoes?

Tornadoes form in thunderstorms, which are composed of cumulonimbus clouds. Usually a tornado will form from a wall cloud that develops are the based of the cumulonimbus cloud, and will develop from a funnel cloud that comes out of the wall cloud.


Can A Tornado Happen With No Clouds?

No, it can not happen. You will always need a cloud to form a tornado. The kind of cloud that a tornado uses is a cumulonimbus cloud.

Related questions

Why does a mushroom cloud form after a nuclear bomb explosion?

Gravity if forming the clouds from the atomic bomb.


Why do nuclear bombs form mushroom clouds in physical terms?

The force of the explosion pushes the air out from around it, creating a pocket of low air pressure. As the smoke and debris cloud begins rising, fresh air flows in from outside the area of explosion, forcing the cloud higher and forming the shape of a mushroom. This can happen with any sufficiently powerful explosion, but it's most well known and most well associated with nuclear explosions.


Why do large explosions form into mushroom clouds?

A mushroom cloud is a distinctive pyrocumulus mushroom-shaped cloud of condensed water vapor or debris resulting from a very large explosion. They are most commonly associated with nuclear explosions, but any sufficiently large blast will produce the same sort of effect. Mushroom clouds are formed by many sorts of large explosions under earth gravity, though they are best known for their appearance after nuclear detonations. Inside a mushroom cloud: cooler air is drawn into the rising toroidal fireball, which itself cools into the familiar cloud appearance.


Which type of nuclear detonation creates a huge crater and carriers millions of tons of earth into the air in the form of a mushroom cloud?

Surface burts


Type of nuclear detonation creates Hugh crater mushroom cloud?

A low altitude detonation or a groundburst will cause a crater to form. Nuclear detonations that take place near the ground (but not underground) will create a mushroom cloud (this is caused by a Raleigh-Taylor instability). I have noted that a lower level detonation close to the ground will suck up material into the fireball and create a more pronounced stem.


What type of radiaton does a nuclear warhead give off?

A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. When a nuclear device is exploded, a large fireball is created. Everything inside of this fireball vaporizes, including soil and water, and is carried upwards. This creates the mushroom cloud that we associate with a nuclear blast, detonation, or explosion. Radioactive material from the nuclear device mixes with the vaporized material in the mushroom cloud. As this vaporized radioactive material cools, it becomes condensed and forms particles, such as dust. The condensed radioactive material then falls back to the earth; this is what is known as fallout. Because fallout is in the form of particles, it can be carried long distances on wind currents and end up miles from the site of the explosion. Fallout is radioactive and can cause contamination of anything on which it lands, including food and water supplies. A nuclear detonation creates a severe environment including blast, thermal pulse, neutrons, x- and gamma-rays, radiation, electromagnetic pulse (EMP), and ionization of the upper atmosphere.


How does a mushroom cloud work?

A mushroom cloud is a distinctive mushroom-shaped cloud of condensed water vapor or debris resulting from a very large explosion. They are most commonly associated with nuclear explosions, but any sufficiently large blast will produce the same sort of effect. They can be caused by powerful conventional weapons. Volcano eruptions and impact events can produce natural mushroom clouds. Mushroom clouds form as a result of the sudden formation of a large mass of hot, low-density gases near the ground creating a Rayleigh-Taylor instability, an instability of an interface between two fluids of different densities, which occurs when the lighter fluid is pushing the heavier fluid. The mass of gas rises rapidly, resulting in turbulent vortices curling downward around its edges and drawing up a column of additional smoke and debris in the center to form its "stem". The mass of gas eventually reaches an altitude where it is no longer of lower density than the surrounding air and disperses, the debris drawn upward from the ground scattering and drifting back down. Mushroom clouds are formed by many sorts of large explosions under earth gravity, though they are best known for their appearance after nuclear detonations. In space the explosion would be somewhat spherical. Nuclear weapons are usually detonated above the ground (not upon impact, because most of the energy would be dispelled into the ground) in order to maximize the effect of their spherical expanding fireball. After immediate detonation, the fireball itself begins to rise into the air, acting on the same principle as a hot-air balloon. One way to analyze the motion, once the hot gas has cleared the ground sufficiently, is as a "spherical cap bubble", as this gives agreement between the rate of rise and observed diameter. While it rises, air is drawn into it and upwards (similar to the updraft of a chimney), producing strong air currents known as "afterwinds", while inside the head of the cloud the hot gases rotate in a toroid shape. When the detonation itself is low enough, these afterwinds will draw in dirt and debris from the ground below to form the stem of the mushroom cloud. Nuclear mushroom clouds are often also accompanied by short-lived vapor clouds, "Wilson condensation clouds," also known as vapor rings. These are created by the blast wave causing a sudden drop in the surrounding air temperatures, causing water vapor in the air to condense around the explosion cloud. Detonations produced high above the ground do not create mushroom clouds. The heads of the clouds themselves consist of highly-radioactive particles and other fission products, and usually are dispersed by the wind, though weather patterns (especially rain) can produce problematic nuclear fallout. Detonations below ground level or deep below the water (for instance, nuclear depth charges) also do not produce mushroom clouds, as the explosion causes the vaporization of a huge amount of earth and water in these instances. Detonations underwater but near the surface can produce mushroom clouds, however.


What are in nuclear bombs?

Enough of either U235 or PU239 to form a critical mass and hence a large explosion


What is powered by nuclear power?

Everything is powered by nuclear energy. The Sun produces heat and light from nuclear fusion, which allows things to grow on Earth, subsequently to die and form fossil fuels. The Earth produces heat from nuclear decay (and some fission) which contributes to our heat balance and allows life to flourish. And, ultimately, everything in the Sun and Earth were created by an interstellar cloud that accreted into the Solar System. That cloud came from the nuclear explosion of a supernova and/or the big bang at the formation of the universe.


How does a neutron bomb explode?

A neutron bomb is a form of nuclear weapon. It explodes in several steps. In the first step, control circuits fire electronic blasting caps cause conventional explosives to detonate. They are shaped in such as way that the explosion crushes a ball of nuclear material (mainly plutonium) causing that to produce nuclear fission (an atomic explosion). THAT serves as the trigger to a nuclear fusion explosion- (similar to the hydrogen bomb). This releases heat, blast, and neutrons.


Where is the spores located on a mushroom?

The form under the top of the mushroom.


Is nuclear weapons the only thing that is destructive about nuclear energy?

no. Nuclear plants can explode potentially killing thousands of people. Besides the explosion, a nuclear explosion would cause radiation to linger, killing off, or mutating thousands more at a greater distance. Nuclear energy can also cause nuclear waste to form, and this must properly be put away. However, nuclear energy has saved/created more lives than kill it because it is able to create large amounts of energy, without pollution and power many homes.