vel for several miles past the destructive reach of the weapon. The highest recorded wind speed during a nuclear test was a gust of three hundred and fifty miles per hour and this was one mile outside the weapon's destructive reach radius. This wind is partially responsible for nuclear weapons' incredibly far away felt effects. In fact the sonic depression wave and the wind are the effects of the weapon which are able to travel the farthest away from the epicenter. As all these effects are taking place a great amount of force is slammed into the earth's surface. There is two results of this force, an impact crated and a seismic shock. The size of the impact crater is proportional to the size of the weapon's yield. Most impact craters created by modern nuclear weapons testing can be seen in satellite pictures that capture the entire state of Arizona. The seismic shock produced by nuclear weapons is also proportional to the yield of the weapon. In most modern nuclear tests seismic shocks powerful enough to destroy reinforced buildings have been recorded at ranges from five to seven miles from the epicenter. During nuclear tests in Arizona very weak seismic activity has been recorded several states away.The matter which is pulled into the upper atmosphere by the updraft created is referred to as fallout. About twelve to twenty-four hours after detonation fallout begins to rain on the location where to weapon was detonated. This fallout is visible because each piece is roughly the size of a baseball. The lighter pieces fall last because they are not as affected by gravity. Depending on where the weapon is detonated and the strength of the upper atmosphere winds the small fallout can be deposited half way around the world. In fact fallout from a nuclear test at Bikini Atoll was found caught in the upper atmospheric winds over Africa. Radioactive fallout is detected using a satellite designed to find earth based nuclear weapons...
