What is a bhangmeter?

~Zen~ · Sep 22, 2010

This morning in my daily visit to Wikipedia, I discovered the Bhangmeter. I thought to myself 'what the heck is this?' So I am happy to share this tidbit of trivia with you afficianadoes of Hashish and all things 'Indian.'

A bhangmeter is a type of photometer used on reconnaissance satellites that is intended to detect atmospheric nuclear detonations.[1]

The first satellites which incorporated bhangmeters were the Advanced Vela satellites. An earlier generation of Vela satellites had been designed to detect nuclear explosions, but were not equipped with bhangmeters (they used X-ray sensors instead to detect an intense single pulse of X-rays).[2]

The silicon photodiode sensors are designed to detect the distinctive bright double pulse of light that is emitted from atmospheric nuclear weapons explosions. This signature is a short and intense flash lasting around 1 millisecond, followed by a second much more prolonged and less intense emission of light taking a fraction of a second to several seconds to build up. The effect occurs because the surface of the early fireball is quickly overtaken by the expanding atmospheric shock wave composed of ionised gas. Although it emits a considerable amount of light itself, it is opaque and prevents the far brighter fireball from shining through. As the shock wave expands, the amount of light it emits increases with its surface area. The effect is unambiguous below about 30 km altitude, but above this height a more ambiguous single pulse is produced.[3]

The name of the detector is a playful pun[4], which was bestowed upon it by Fred Reines, one of the scientists working on the project. The name is derived from the Indian word "bhang", a locally grown variety of cannabis which is smoked or drunk to induce intoxicating effects. The joke being that one would have to be on drugs to believe the bhangmeter detectors would work properly. This is a contrast to the similarly-pronounced "bangmeter" one might associate with detection of nuclear explosions.[5]
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If more nuclear scientists used cannabis there might be a lot less war on this planet.

whoman · Nov 25, 2010

bro when i seen this i thought it was something to measure if the bhang was done.....it sounded like a utensil to help make it...too phunny

3head · Nov 25, 2010

haha you learn something new everyday

whoman · Nov 25, 2010

aint that the trueth^

RooRshack · Nov 25, 2010

whoman said:

bro when i seen this i thought it was something to measure if the bhang was done.....it sounded like a utensil to help make it...too phunny
Click to expand...

Was like "I want a.... oh"

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What is a bhangmeter?

~Zen~ California Tripper Administrator

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What is a bhangmeter?

~Zen~ California Tripper Administrator

whoman Member

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whoman Member

RooRshack On Sabbatical

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