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The site was part of the Alamogordo Bombing Range, now the White Sands Missile Range. The test site is at the northern end of the Range, between the towns of Carrizozo and Socorro, New Mexico in the Jornada del Muerto Desert in the southwestern United States. The culmination of the Manhattan Project, the event was code-named "Trinity".

There was a pre-test explosion of 100 tons of TNT on May 7 to calibrate the instrumentation. For the actual test, the plutonium core nuclear weapon, nicknamed the gadgetA gadget is a device, usually simple in form and function, that has a useful specific purpose and function. Gadgets tend to be more unusual, or clever than normal technology. In contrast, an device of clever design, but has no practical purpose is called, was placed on the top of a 20- metreFor other uses of "metre" and "meter", see Metre (disambiguation). The metre is the basic unit of length in the International System of Units (SI: Systeme International d'Unites). It is defined as the length of the path travelled by light in absolute vacu steelSteel is a metal alloy whose major component is iron, with carbon being the primary alloying material. Carbon acts as a binding agent, locking the otherwise easily-moved iron atoms into a rigid lattice. Varying the amount of carbon and its distribution in tower for detonationDetonate A detonation is a rapid explosion that generates supersonic pressure waves ( shock waves) in the surrounding medium. Detonations are produced by high explosives, nuclear weapons, etc. This is in contrast to deflagration where the pressure waves a. It had been assembled at the nearby McDonald Ranch House , the components arriving on July 12July 12 is the 193rd day (194th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 172 days remaining. Events 1690 William of Orange's army wins the Battle of the Boyne as reckoned under Gregorian calendar. 1759 British cannon start firing on Fren. It was assembled on the 13thJuly 13th is the 194th day (195th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 171 days remaining. Events 1500-1799 1558 Battle of Gravelines: In France, Spanish forces led by Count Lamoral of Egmont defeat the French forces of Marshal Paul and winched up the tower the following day. In case of failure, a huge steel canister code-named "Jumbo" was prepared to recover the plutonium; it was shipped to the test site but not used. The detonation was planned for 4 a.m. but postponed due to poor weather.

At 05:29:45 local time ( Mountain War Time), the device exploded with an energy equivalent to 19 kilotons of TNTTo help compare different orders of magnitude we list here energies between 1013 joules and 1014 joules. Weaker energies 3. 6 × 1013 J 0. 01 TWh 9. 0 × 1013 J Theoretical total mass-energy of one gram of matter Stronger energies External links Orders of m (87.5 TJ). It left a crater in the desert 3 metres deep and 330 metres wide. The shock wave was felt over 160 km away, and the mushroom cloud reached 12 km. Richard Feynman claimed to be the only person to see the explosion without the dark glasses provided, looking through a truck windshield to screen out harmful ultraviolet wavelengths. In the crater the desert sand, which is largely made of silica, melted and became glass of a light green color; this was named trinitite. The crater was filled in soon after the test. The military reported it as an accidental explosion at a munitions dump , and the actual cause was not publicly acknowledged until August 6.

Around 260 personnel were present, none closer than 9 km. At the next test series, Operation Crossroads in 1946, over 40,000 people were present.

The area was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1975; the public is admitted on the first Saturdays of April and October. There is still a little residual radiation at the site. The Trinity monument, a rough sided dark stone obelisk around 12 ft (3.65 m) high, marks the explosion hypocenter.