End Times Truth

Prophecies of the Second Coming of Christ

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Search
  • End Times News
    • Israel News
    • Middle East News
    • Terrorism News
    • New World Order and Globalism
    • European Union News
    • Smart Card News
    • Biometrics & Identification Technology
    • RFID & Surveillance Technology
    • Nuclear Weapons and Advanced Military Systems
  • Escape to Safety
  • The Bible
  • Principles of Prophecy
    • The Test of a Prophet
    • The Purpose of a Prophet
    • Visions of the Future
  • Israel
    • The Blessing and Curse
    • The Scattering of Israel
    • The Scattering of Judah and Jerusalem
    • The Final Scattering of Israel
    • The Regathering of Israel
    • Gathered in Unbelief
    • Prophecies of 1948
    • Restored with Fury
    • Trembling and Fear
      • Wars and Battles of Israel
    • Success Teetering On the Brink of Disaster
    • The Palestinian Problem
    • Daniel’s Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks
      • The Start Date for the Seventy Weeks
      • Calculating the Time of Messiah
      • Daniel’s Seventieth Week
  • New World Order
    • Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream
    • The Final Empire
    • Daniel’s Four Beasts
    • The Dreadful and Terrible Beast
    • The Beast with Seven Heads and Ten Horns
    • The Empire-Beast Arises
    • The Empire-Beast Today
    • Rise of the European Community
    • A New World Order Arises
    • The Group of Seven
    • Globalist Movements
  • The Antichrist
    • The Persona of Pride
    • The Antichrist is Revealed
    • The Second Beast of Revelation
    • Power, Signs, and Wonders
  • Mark of the Beast
    • Branded for Death
    • The Cashless Society
    • Plastic Money
    • Electronic Funds Transfer
    • A Wired Society
    • ATM and POS
    • Rise of the Internet
    • The Identification Problem
    • Smart Cards
    • Biometrics
    • RFID
    • The Final Mark
    • Surveillance and Control
  • 666
    • The Number of the Beast
    • The Imagery of 666
    • Barcode Technology and 666
    • Security Permissions Setting 666
  • World War III
    • The Abomination of Desolation
    • The Time of the End
    • The Attack of Russia
    • The Battle Begins
    • The Attack of China
    • Nuclear War and the Great Tribulation
    • The Effects of Nuclear Weapons
      • The Mushroom Cloud
      • The Fireball and Thermal Pulse
      • Firestorms and Conflagrations
      • The Blast Wave
      • Radioactive Fallout and Clouds of Dust
      • Ozone Depletion
      • Collapse of the Ecosystem
  • Return of Christ
    • The Seventh Trumpet
    • Christ’s Predictions
    • The Sign of the Son of Man
    • The Testimony of the Disciples
    • In the Twinkling of an Eye
    • The Trumpet Sounds
    • Delivered from God’s Wrath
    • The Witness of the Old Testament
    • The Importance of Knowing When
    • Characteristics of Christ’s Return and the Rapture
  • Kingdom Age
    • The People of the Kingdom
    • The Redemption of Israel
    • Israel in the Kingdom
  • End Times Chronology
    • The Sign Posts of History
    • Israel in the Last Days
    • Events Signaling the End
    • The First Half of Daniel’s 70th Week; The Empire of the Beast
      • The Two Witnesses Arise
You are here: Home / World War III / The Mushroom Cloud
post

The Mushroom Cloud

The effects of nuclear weapons have been studied extensively since the initial use of atomic bombs upon Japan in 1945. As the pillars of smoke rose above the decimated cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and formed the characteristic mushroom clouds thousands of feet into the air, the danger of international conflict changed forever. Knowledge gained from the survivors of these bombs and from research done on the many test explosions performed in the decades following World War II indicated that the threat of nuclear war extends to every aspect of life on Earth. One of the best compilations of the effects of nuclear weapons comes from a study published in 1977 by the United States Department of Defense (edited by Samuel Glasstone and Philip Dolan), which was updated several times as advances in thermonuclear fusion bombs were made and tested. There are also excellent books that have been published on this topic as well as numerous Internet sites that have compiled information on the physical and medical effects of nuclear war. Many of these references are cited in this section and in the sections which follow.

Truckee Nuclear ExplosionProbably the first characteristic that immediately comes to mind regarding the effects of nuclear war is the surging clouds of smoke and debris that quickly rise up to thousands of feet in the atmosphere after a nuclear blast. The majority of people would recognize a nuclear explosion solely as a result of seeing this distinctive “mushroom cloud” reaching far above the earth. These plumes of smoke are formed through blast excavation of soil and earth at the point of detonation in addition to the pulverization of buildings, plants, and other structures on the ground. The initial nuclear fireball creates a region of super-heated air having low density, which because of its extreme buoyant mass creates a region of turbulence that rapidly rises into the atmosphere. These turbulent vortices form the upper mushroom part of the cloud, which has the characteristic of ballooning outward with bellows of smoke and debris curling downward at its outer edges as it rises upward. In addition, the strong updraft from the ascending fireball creates an internal suction, causing cooler air to quickly move in from all surrounding directions at velocities that can exceed hurricane-strength winds, which then rise within a central column of ash and smoke. In fact, the largest nuclear weapons can produce updraft winds within the central column that are in the range of 600-800 miles per hour. This upward flow rapidly forms the stem of the mushroom cloud, and its thickness and ultimate height are indicative of the size of the nuclear explosion. Within seconds the mushroom cloud can rise above the typical cumulus cloud height and after about 10 minutes it can extend up into the stratosphere with a tremendous ascending flow pulling the smaller particles of debris, soot, smoke, and ash along with it. Thus, the full mushroom cloud effect of a nuclear blast typically takes only moments to form from a ground burst or a near-ground explosion, but can create a massive column of smoke extending from the surface even up into the stratosphere.

The major component of these mushroom clouds is smoke. Smoke can be formed from the combustion of any flammable organic materials (carbon based), and it becomes sootier as the temperature of combustion increases. In the center of a nuclear explosion, the temperatures are far greater than typical fires or explosions. At a temperature of millions of degrees within the fireball, any flammable items will be instantly transformed into tiny particles of soot. These particles are largely made up of amorphous elemental carbon with sizes in the range of nanometers to micrometers in size (from: Environmental Consequences of Nuclear War Volume I: Physical and Atmospheric Effects, Ch. 3, p. 40). At this size, they can easily be carried upward with the rising fireball.

In addition, the closer the blast is to the Earth’s surface the more dirt and debris can be carried up by the inflow and up-flow of winds. A ground blast will often carve out a massive crater and cause strong inflowing winds that can pick up the pulverized debris from miles around and form a thick dark column leading up to the ascending fireball. The final height of the pillar of smoke is dependent on the yield of the nuclear explosion and the prevailing winds in the atmosphere. For weapons of about 1 MT yield exploding near the surface, the mushroom cloud top can reach over 12 miles high. For the largest thermonuclear fusion bombs tested, the cloud can actually reach over 25 miles high, which is about 4 times the cruising altitude of a typical passenger jet.  Thus, one of the initial effects of nuclear war are the giant columns of smoke emanating from each blast.

Surface detonation, cloud height vs yield, WikipediaHowever, in a full-scale war these mushroom clouds would become much more than just signatures of individual explosions. Most of the primary targets that would be hit by the NATO countries and the Russian Alliance would involve multiple explosions extending over hundreds of square miles over each city and also hitting military installations and other important energy and industrial facilities. Huge amounts of smoke and debris coming from a full nuclear exchange involving thousands of explosions would coalesce and blanket large regions of the world and be a significant cause of death, especially for those downwind or within the fallout range of ground zero.

Even the Bible mentions smoke as being a major characteristic of the final battles. When the Kings of the East attack Israel at the end, John tells us that one-third of mankind will be killed by the fire, smoke, and brimstone, which results from their onslaught (Rev. 9:13-18). Joel, however, gives us the best description of what a nuclear explosion might look like to anyone observing it. Thousands of years ago he predicted that at the end of the age the Lord would show…

“…wonders in the heavens and in the earth; blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke”.

Joel 2:30

When a correspondent for the New York Times witnessed the bombing of Nagasaki on September 9, 1945, while flying in an accompanying plane next to the main bomber, he described the event as producing a “pillar of purple fire” and as “a giant mushroom that increased the height of the pillar to a total of 45,000 feet (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushroom_cloud and the publication Eyewitness Account of Atomic Bomb Over Nagasaki, by William Laurence, War Department, Bureau of Public Relations, 1945). It is incredible that even after the first nuclear weapons were used on populated cities the initial reaction from an eye-witness included a description matching exactly what Joel predicted: pillars of smoke. God was revealing through those events the eventual fulfillment of end times prophecy decades before it would come to pass—not only demonstrating the accuracy of the Bible in predicting the future, but giving our generation a warning that there is not much time left before this dire holocaust comes upon the world and Christ Returns.

When the superpowers eventually engage in the final nuclear conflict in the last days, gigantic pillars of smoke will rise far above the earth and coalesce into dark blankets of death, which will darken the skies and rain radioactive fallout onto almost every part of the globe. Fine particles and smoke will remain suspended in the upper regions of the atmosphere for extended periods, causing significantly decreased sunlight reaching the Earth’s surface and affecting plant growth and temperatures worldwide (more on these points later).

According to early research into the mushroom clouds and the enormous amount of smoke, soot, and ash which would be injected into the upper atmosphere, the global consequences will be disastrous for the world’s ecosystem. Turco et al., 1990, attempted to catalog all of the flammable materials that would be ignited during a likely nuclear exchange between the major superpowers [Turco, R.P., Toon, O.B., Ackerman, J.B., Pollack, J.B., and Sagan, C. (1990) Climate and Smoke: An appraisal of nuclear winter, Science 247, 166-176; also see their previous publication in Science, called the TTAPS study from the initials of the authors: Science 222, 1283-1292 (1983)]. These flammable materials would contribute significant sources of secondary smoke that would continue to burn and be injected into the air in the days, weeks, and months following the initial nuclear explosions. The authors predicted that from 6,740 to 13,480 teragrams (Tg = 1012 gm = trillion grams) or 6.7 to 13.4 quadrillion grams of flammable materials would burn and produce supplemental sources of smoke, soot, and ash after the initial nuclear exchange between the Russian alliance and the NATO nations. This includes building materials such as wood, lumber, cellulosic byproducts, and interior furnishings; primary and secondary petroleum products; plastics and polymers; asphalt roofing materials; and plants and vegetation (grasses, weeds, bushes, and trees).

Therefore, the total quantity of flammable materials that would burn in a war between Russia and the West was estimated to be from 6.7 to 13.4 trillion kilograms (or 14.8 to 29.7 trillion pounds). Seeing that populations and cities have grown significantly since the TTAPS study was published, the amount of flammable materials that could ignite today would likely exceed the high end of this estimate. Thus, the total effects of nuclear war would include both the smoke and debris from the initial explosions creating thousands of mushroom clouds as well as the subsequent smoke and soot from thousands of fires consuming trillions of pounds of combustible materials.

In his article The Nuclear Winter, Carl Sagan stated:

“A more or less typical strategic warhead has a yield of 2 megatons, the explosive equivalent of 2 million tons of TNT. But 2 million tons of TNT is about the same as all the bombs exploded in World War II—a single bomb with the explosive power of the entire Second World War but compressed into a few seconds of time and an area 30 or 40 miles across…

“In a 2-megaton explosion over a fairly large city, buildings would be vaporized, people reduced to atoms and shadows, outlying structures blown down like matchsticks and raging fires ignited.”

Amazingly, the regions of the world that the TTAPS study analyzed perfectly correspond to the countries predicted in the Bible to be involved in the initial battles during the Great Tribulation. Through these studies, the Lord has provided knowledge and understanding ahead of time on the effects of nuclear war to warn us of what will soon come to pass. It is important to also realize that there is still time to repent and believe in Christ before the end comes upon us!

Next: The Fireball and Thermal Pulse

 

Recent News and Posts on End Times Prophecy

The Great Reset, from The World Economic Forum data, 2020

The Great Reset

The Globalist Plot to Change the World System In the wake of the Wuhan virus and the disruptions caused to the health, political, and economic systems of the world, many powerful leaders are now taking advantage of the pandemic in an attempt to bring about a New World Order. The advocates of globalism are calling […]

Social distancing app showing red & green labels around people

Chinese Coronavirus Fears Lead to Greater Surveillance and Control

In 2020, the world suddenly moved closer to a global surveillance system under the auspices of public “health and safety”.  The Chinese coronavirus fears stemming from a global pandemic has provided all the excuse that leaders needed to increase societal controls and implement high tech solutions to monitor entire populations. Even in countries with relative […]

Coronavirus 3D Illustration, Wikipedia

The Coronavirus Pandemic and the End Times

The novel coronavirus COVID-19 [also called Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (or SARS-CoV-2)] is continuing to spread around the globe from its origin in the Wuhan region in China. It is now threatening the health and the economy of all countries, as normal life shuts down to contain the infection. Thousands of people have […]

Surveillance collage, Pixabay images

The Tyranny of Technocracy

A new type of global governance is taking form, and it’s threatening to become a monster. It is based not upon traditional political theories such as capitalism, socialism, communism, or fascism. This new system transcends all previous political systems to create something far more dangerous. Instead of being based upon a ruling class operating within […]

Israeli and Palestinian access in the West Bank

Israeli Sovereignty in Judea and Samaria

News reports from Israel on Sunday, May 12, 2019, indicated that the US won’t oppose Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, which would involve Israeli annexation of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank. This region has been known to the Jews as the territories of Judea and Samaria, and it has been a hot […]

Destruction in Raqqa from the Syrian conflict

Russia, Iran, and Israel Battle for Military Advantage in Syria

The very nations that are predicted in the Bible to fight within the Middle East at the Time of the End now battle for military advantage in Syria.  Throughout 2018, Iranian forces have been setting up bases in Syria, and several times they have prompted Israel to respond militarily. On May 10th, during the early […]

The Flag of Israel

Israel’s 70th Anniversary

Israel’s 70th anniversary has occurred, which memorialized and celebrated their sudden rebirth as a nation on May 14, 1948.  Israel’s rebirth was the most momentous prophetic fulfillment in recent history as they became an independent nation again in their former homeland against all odds. After being scattered throughout the world since their rejection of Christ […]

The Destruction in Aleppo, Syria

The War in Syria and the End Times

The war in Syria that began in 2011 as a civil war between government forces and various factions seeking to overthrow the Assad regime, has now become a battleground for many opposing forces. The Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, previously revealed to the UN Security Council that Iran had amassed a surrogate […]

President Trump, statement on Jerusalem, 12-7-2017, Wikipedia image

Chaos in Wake of Trump’s Recognition of Jerusalem

A massive, Hezbollah-inspired protest involving tens of thousands of Lebanese and Palestinians occurred in Beirut shortly after Trump announced he would move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. The protesters could be heard chanting that America was “the Great Satan” and Israel “the little Satan”. The Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah gave a speech at the rally […]

Trump to Recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital

President Trump said this week that the U.S. for the first time now fully recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and he also said that he will order the State Department to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.  Trump had promised since the presidential campaign in 2016 that he would move […]

Recent In-Depth Articles on End Times Prophecy

Events Signaling the End

Events Signaling the End

Bible prophecy predicts that there will be several significant events signaling the End of the Age. These seminal events will occur just prior to the beginning of a period … [more]

Great Day of His Wrath, by John Martin, artist

Collapse of the Ecosystem

The final aspect of the prophecies that relate to the effects of nuclear war is the widespread pollution of land and water by radioactive fallout, dust from the explosions and … [more]

Chronology of Israel in the Last Days

Israel in the Last Days

The incredible prophecies of Israel in the Last Days are the key to understanding just how close we are to the End of the Age.  The Bible predicts virtually everything that … [more]

Painting of the Temple, by the Temple Institute

Israel in the Kingdom

One of the first events predicted to occur in the early years of the Kingdom Age is the fulfillment of the final ingathering of all the scattered Jews back to the land of … [more]

resurrection, end times, last days, Israel, redemption of Israel, raising the dead

The Redemption of Israel

Two of the most important events for the Jewish people that are predicted to occur near the start of the Kingdom Age include the redemption of Israel and the restoration of … [more]

Largest ozone hole over Antarctica, NASA and NOAA image, Wikipedia

Ozone Depletion

In the previous sections, we have seen that everything the Bible describes as being a characteristic of the Great Tribulation also correlates precisely to what is now expected … [more]

Chagan Nuclear test, Russia

Radioactive Fallout and Clouds of Dust

Scorpions of Death As we have seen in previous sections, one of the main consequences of a nuclear explosion happening at or near ground level is that millions of tons of … [more]

Firestorms and Conflagrations

The Trumpet Judgments In the book of Revelation, the Apostle John records terrible visions of nuclear weapons causing vast destruction at the end of the age through the … [more]

The Tsar Bomba nuclear fireball

The Fireball and Thermal Pulse

Although the formation of a mushroom cloud has become the most recognizable feature of a nuclear explosion (see previous section), it is actually not the generation of smoke … [more]

Truckee Nuclear Explosion

The Mushroom Cloud

The effects of nuclear weapons have been studied extensively since the initial use of atomic bombs upon Japan in 1945. As the pillars of smoke rose above the decimated cities … [more]

Licorne Nuclear Explosion, French Polynesia test site

Nuclear War and the Great Tribulation

Fire, Smoke, and Brimstone The Battle of Armageddon is predicted to be the last and greatest conflict of mankind. Even the non-believing world has adopted this Biblical term … [more]

End Times Truth Site Map

  • 666
    • The Number of the Beast
    • The Imagery of 666
    • Barcode Technology and 666
    • Security Permissions Setting 666
  • Cart
  • Checkout
  • Contact
  • End Times News
    • Israel News
    • Middle East News
    • New World Order and Globalism
    • European Union News
    • Smart Card News
    • Biometrics & Identification Technology
    • RFID & Surveillance Technology
    • Nuclear Weapons and Advanced Military Systems
    • Terrorism News
  • End Times Truth Home
  • My account
  • Privacy Policy
  • Search
  • Shop
  • The Bible
  • About
  • Kingdom Age
    • The People of the Kingdom
    • The Redemption of Israel
    • Israel in the Kingdom
  • Principles of Prophecy
    • The Test of a Prophet
    • The Purpose of a Prophet
    • Visions of the Future
  • Israel
    • The Blessing and Curse
    • The Scattering of Israel
    • The Scattering of Judah and Jerusalem
    • The Final Scattering of Israel
    • The Regathering of Israel
    • Gathered in Unbelief
    • Prophecies of 1948
    • Restored with Fury
    • Wars and Battles of Israel
    • Trembling and Fear
    • Success Teetering On the Brink of Disaster
    • The Palestinian Problem
    • Daniel’s Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks
    • The Start Date for the Seventy Weeks
    • Calculating the Time of Messiah
    • Daniel’s Seventieth Week
  • New World Order
    • Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream
    • The Final Empire
    • Daniel’s Four Beasts
    • The Dreadful and Terrible Beast
    • The Beast with Seven Heads and Ten Horns
    • The Empire-Beast Arises
    • The Empire-Beast Today
    • Rise of the European Community
    • A New World Order Arises
    • The Group of Seven
    • Globalist Movements
  • The Antichrist
    • The Persona of Pride
    • The Antichrist is Revealed
    • The Second Beast of Revelation
    • Power, Signs, and Wonders
  • Mark of the Beast
    • Branded for Death
    • The Cashless Society
    • Plastic Money
    • Electronic Funds Transfer
    • A Wired Society
    • ATM and POS
    • Rise of the Internet
    • The Identification Problem
    • Smart Cards
    • Biometrics
    • RFID
    • The Final Mark
    • Surveillance and Control
  • World War III
    • The Abomination of Desolation
    • The Time of the End
    • The Attack of Russia
    • The Battle Begins
    • The Attack of China
    • Nuclear War and the Great Tribulation
    • The Mushroom Cloud
    • The Fireball and Thermal Pulse
    • Firestorms and Conflagrations
    • The Blast Wave
    • Radioactive Fallout and Clouds of Dust
    • Ozone Depletion
    • Collapse of the Ecosystem
  • Return of Christ
    • The Seventh Trumpet
    • Christ’s Predictions
    • The Sign of the Son of Man
    • The Testimony of the Disciples
    • In the Twinkling of an Eye
    • The Trumpet Sounds
    • Delivered from God’s Wrath
    • The Witness of the Old Testament
    • The Importance of Knowing When
    • Characteristics of Christ’s Return and the Rapture
  • End Times Chronology
    • The Sign Posts of History
    • Israel in the Last Days
    • Events Signaling the End
    • The First Half of Daniel’s 70th Week; The Empire of the Beast
    • The Two Witnesses Arise
  • Escape to Safety

Escape to Safety in the End Times

The Bible provides the only solution to the evil of this world. While the world is heading for a judgment day as a result of sin and rejecting God's love through Christ, an individual can escape that fate through a simple act of faith. In fact, you can be as certain of making it through the end times and of being saved from judgment as the Lord's predictions are assured of coming true. For those that can see the truth in God's Word through prophecy, know also that the Bible provides a simple and guaranteed alternative to judgment, which is vital for every person to understand. Read more...

   

Michelangelo, Christ at the final judgmentPrivacy Policy

Bible Copyright Notices

Biblical quotations used throughout this web site may come from one of several authoritative translations:

1. THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

2. The New Scofield Reference Bible, Authorized King James Version, Copyright 1967 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Bible text in public domain.

3. The King James Version of the Bible, in the public domain.

4. NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

 

Back to top Arrow, white

 

Copyright © 2021 End Times Truth