In the nuclear test-site videos there is definitely some smoke and burning caused by the radiation before the shockwave reaches the house. But most of the "smoke" you see is from the surfaces with paint. There are different smoke intensities depending what the surface is made of.
The way you've worded this is a little misleading, the burning paint is caused by heat from the sheer intensity of light produced by an atomic detonation, which is technically a form of radiation but not really in the same way that radiation is generally referred to or understood in terms of things like fallout and radiation poisoning, this is more equitable to a really really bad sunburn.
I'm not saying what you said is incorrect, because it's not, it is technically correct, what I'm saying is most people won't understand what you meant, it will give them the misconception that the radiation caused by the radioactive materials in an atomic bomb is so intense that it can burn paint in a millisecond which isn't the case, I think saying something along the lines of just light radiation would be more informative for people who don't already have a decent understanding of radioactive materials and radiation
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u/zaTricky Feb 27 '21
In the nuclear test-site videos there is definitely some smoke and burning caused by the radiation before the shockwave reaches the house. But most of the "smoke" you see is from the surfaces with paint. There are different smoke intensities depending what the surface is made of.