Ivy Mike

Ivy Mike was the <a href="/facts/Code_name/MRq0mo4b">codename</a> given to the first full-scale test of a <a href="/facts/Thermonuclear_weapon/T9zFe3H0">thermonuclear device</a>, in which a significant fraction of the explosive <a href="/facts/Nuclear_weapon_yield/53of1vqQ">yield</a> comes from <a href="/facts/Nuclear_fusion/hP0gLDqj">nuclear fusion</a>.
Ivy Mike was detonated on November 1, 1952, by the <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">United States</a> on the island of <a href="/facts/Elugelab/IxJXGEJ9">Elugelab</a> in <a href="/facts/Enewetak_Atoll/Mj0yc3W3">Enewetak Atoll</a>, in the now independent island nation of the <a href="/facts/Marshall_Islands/rRV4U7oD">Marshall Islands</a>, as part of <a href="/facts/Operation_Ivy/kNxjprMr">Operation Ivy</a>. It was the first full test of the <a href="/facts/Teller%E2%80%93Ulam_design/T9zFe3H0">Teller–Ulam design</a>, a <a href="/facts/Nuclear_weapon_design/gw0LEc74">staged</a> fusion device.
Due to its physical size and fusion fuel type (<a href="/facts/Cryogenic/cw7dHAkp">cryogenic</a> liquid <a href="/facts/Deuterium/Bv4wfCkw">deuterium</a>), the "Mike" device was not suitable for use as a deliverable weapon. It was intended as a "technically conservative" <a href="/facts/Proof_of_concept/1YzUH8LJ">proof of concept</a> experiment to validate the concepts used for multi-<a href="/facts/TNT_equivalent/nEQ5z8mp">megaton</a> detonations.
Samples from the explosion had traces of the isotopes <a href="/facts/Plutonium-246/ASACBN4x">plutonium-246</a>, <a href="/facts/Plutonium-244/XGtUVghF">plutonium-244</a>, and the predicted elements <a href="/facts/Einsteinium/RePoIVN9">einsteinium</a> and <a href="/facts/Fermium/Us3rnvG5">fermium</a>.

Ivy Mike open-in-new

Ivy Mike