Trinitite

Trinitite: Melted sand from directly under the first atomic bomb test

Trinitite (or “atomsite”) is a rock that formed when the first atomic bomb was detonated in the desert of New Mexico in 1945.

The heat of the explosion melted the surrounding rock, which recrystallized as a quartz-feldspar glass. It is mildly radioactive, but is assessed as safe to handle.

Bryn Mawr General Collection, unnumbered.