Can You Really Taste Fission? Exploring the Enola Gay Crew's Experience

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SUMMARY

The forum discussion centers on the Enola Gay crew's reported experience of tasting fission during the atomic bomb drop on Hiroshima. One crewman noted a metallic taste, likening it to lead, which raises questions about the sensory effects of radiation exposure. Participants speculate that the metallic taste could stem from adrenaline release, tissue damage due to radiation, or even ozone presence in the air. The conversation also references similar experiences reported by firefighters during the Chernobyl disaster, suggesting a potential link between high-stress situations and metallic taste sensations.

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  • Understanding of fission reactions and their byproducts
  • Knowledge of radiation exposure effects on human physiology
  • Familiarity with adrenaline's physiological effects
  • Basic concepts of ozone and its properties
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  • Research the physiological effects of radiation exposure on taste perception
  • Investigate the relationship between adrenaline release and metallic taste sensations
  • Study the properties and effects of ozone in high-energy environments
  • Examine historical accounts of sensory experiences during nuclear events
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This discussion is beneficial for historians, physicists, medical professionals, and anyone interested in the psychological and physiological effects of extreme stress and radiation exposure.

Ivan Seeking
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I thought this was interesting. On The History Channel there was a show about the crew of the Enola Gay - dropped first atomic bomb on Japan. In the diary of one crewman he comments that as they were hit by the blast wave, another crewman commented that "you can taste fission". "It tastes like lead".

Does this make sense to anyone? Does gamma radiation or any of the trash from a fission reaction induce a sense of taste?
 
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Adrenaline, perhaps?
 
I don't think my sense of taste is refined enough to detect a difference between lead and any other metal. We could probably assume the same is true of the crewman making the comment, that it was a metallic taste of some sort, maybe not specifically lead.

In addition to the radiation, what else would they have been exposed to? Though, could tissue damage from the radiation alone have been sufficient to cause a metallic taste sensation? It wouldn't surprise me that something caused the taste, but I wouldn't expect it to be fission, per se.
 
That's why I was thinking of adrenaline. Doesn't that produce a metallic taste when released in large doses? My thinking is that seeing a nuclear detonation would probably get my adrenaline going.
 
Well. On the history channel last night, there was a program about the Chernobyl reactor accident. The fire fighters that were first on the scene said they had a metallic taste as they approached the reactor fire.
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yes i saw that documentary before and that part was really interesting. i looked online to see if i could find anything else about the the air tasting like metal but i didnt find anything
 
Think taste. Taste buds on the back of the tongue are stimulated by odors. If you have ever been in a welding shop, you can 'taste' different alloys being welded by the fumes. I can rather easily tell the difference between stainless and mild steel that way.
 
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I managed to find one anecdotal reference to adrenaline causing a metallic taste. It is also mentioned in a medical journal in association with toxicity due to lidocaine w/epinephrine [adrenaline], but it wasn't clear which was the cause. It is a close match to what I was thinking, and since the two drugs are apparently always given together, it seems a bit coincidental that I would be wrong about this. Still, I didn't find anything stating explicitly what I was expecting - that large releases of adrenaline can cause a metallic taste in one's mouth.

Shooting from the hip...what about ozone? Ozone has a metallic odor. I could see the fire fighters smelling burning metal, but what about the Enola Gay crewman? Could air be sufficiently ionized at that distance so as to produce detectable levels of ozone?

Something else that Integral brought up was all of the above ground testing done in Nevada in the 50's? Someone would have reported this. Of course, this could be well known to some people but who else would know? On the other hand, what were the levels of exposure of any Nevada group as compared to air crewman or the fire fighters. Most personnel on the scene at Chernobyl received lethal levels of exposure.
 

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