The simularities between some mushroom development (when sped up on film) and the development of an atomic mushroom cloud are striking. Can somebody explain why they are the similar - preferably in terms of the physics involved that an average 'non-physicist' might understand?
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The shape of the mushroom cloud after any massive explosion (and it doesn't have to be nuclear) has to do with the fact that hot air rises. The rising fireball and heat brings in cooler air which makes the stem of the cloud thinner and the dirt, debris, and water vapor that were drawn up swirl outward at the top as they cool. Because there are more fungi than not that do not produce basidiocarps (the cap type classic mushrooms) and the way these particular fungi grow their fruiting bodies really doesn't have to do with the same properties of physics that cause mushroom clouds to have their characteristic shape, is just a cosmic coincidence I think. Kind of like why the sun and the moon appear the same size to us, it is a crazy coincidence that the moon is 400 times bigger than the moon, but the sun just so also happens to be 400 times farther away...