Word: thermal
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People farther away from the source of the thermal wave were destined for longer agonies. The intense heat melted the eyeballs of some who had stared in wonder at the blast; it burned off facial features and seared skin all over the body into peeling, draping strips. The survivors who first emerged out of the roiling inferno that the center of Hiroshima had become walked like automatons, their arms held forward, hands dangling. In shock, they instinctively tried to keep their burned skin from touching anything, including themselves...
After the thermal heat came the blast, spreading out from the explosion center at an initial speed of 2 m.p.s. and then subsiding toward the speed of sound. Shock waves were the principal threat of conventional bombs, but Little Boy achieved a new order of destructive power. Unleashing the equivalent of 12,500 tons of TNT, it essentially flattened Hiroshima in one blow: only 6,000 of the city's 76,000 buildings were undamaged; 48,000 of them were entirely destroyed. Practically every window and mirror in the city splintered, hurling shards of glass into the bodies of anyone...
...wanted something to eat. He nodded, and an MRE -- a meal, ready-to-eat-was passed forward. O'Grady took three or four bites of the chicken stew and then said he couldn't eat any more. His uncontrollable shivering started up again, and someone wrapped a thermal blanket around his shoulders. "I was just so relieved," said Castro. "My heart was still pumping so hard -- we finally...
...array of sun-powered monitors on Enron's network is one of many signs that solar's time is fast approaching. The community of Tennant Creek in northern Australia is scheduled to receive power soon from what is called a solar-thermal system. It will use a series of parabolic dishes to focus the sun's rays and superheat steam, which in turn will drive turbine generators. The designer, Stephen Kaneff of the Australian National University, calculates that these modest-size systems can produce power for as little as 4 cents per KW-H, cheaper than the polluting...
...moment, power from solar-thermal systems costs less than that produced by photovoltaic cells, which convert sunlight straight into electricity. Advocates of PV cells point out, though, that the gap is narrowing and that PV cells have other advantages. Solar-thermal systems require direct sunlight, while PV cells work in cloudy weather. Even at 25 cents to 50 cents per KW-H, PV cells are economical for small amounts of energy in remote places. Homeowners find solar power less expensive than connecting to a utility if a house lies farther than a mile from the nearest power line. Even...