Why Do Nuclear Bombs Make Mushroom Clouds?

If you’ve ever put your feet up on a warm summer’s day and played “spot the shape in the cloud,” you might’ve seen a kangaroo, a guy preparing to facepalm, maybe a mushroom... On second thought, hopefully not that last one. Hosted by: Michael Aranda ---------- Dooblydoo thanks go to the following Patreon supporters -- we couldn t make SciShow without them! Shout out to Justin Ove, Justin Lentz, David Campos, Philippe von Bergen, Chris Peters, Lilly Grainger, Happy Birthday!!, and Fatima Iqbal. ---------- Like SciShow? Want to help support us, and also get things to put on your walls, cover your torso and hold your liquids? Check out our awesome products over at DFTBA Records: http://dftba.com/scishow Or help support us by becoming our patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow ---------- Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet? Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/scishow Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/scishow Tumblr: http://scishow.tumblr.com Instagram: http://instagram.com/thescishow Sources: http://www.deepspace.ucsb.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Effects-of-Nuclear-Weapons-1977-3rd-edition-complete.pdf Mushroom clouds forming over volcanoes and forest fires: http://www.theguardian.com/news/2012/jul/13/weatherwatch-clouds-atomic-mushroom Pyrocumulus above forest fires http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231012000660 Brief overview of Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities http://www.quora.com/What-is-an-intuitive-explanation-of-the-Rayleigh-Taylor-instability Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities are important in supernovae: http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev.astro.38.1.191 Video of Rayleigh-Taylor instability with water of different temperatures https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yabqo7VFTYs Video of Rayleigh-Tayor instability with salt and pure water. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NI85oC-3mJ0 General (not primary) resource – University paper http://www.ral.ucar.edu/staff/jvigh/documents/vigh_adjustment_mechanisms.pdf