why do big explosions create mushroom clouds?
In: Physics
Big explosions create a lot of heat. That creates a powerful updraft near the location of the explosion, which draws air in and rises up in a column above the center. The edges of that column form vortices that curl outward, which is what causes the “mushroom” shape – more technically, a [Rayleigh-Taylor instability](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayleigh%E2%80%93Taylor_instability).
Big explosion. Air gets really hot. Rises up as its less dense. Cool air from around rushes in to fill the void creating a storm. This pulls particles of ash and dust in the air and when the air cools down it stops rising so it spreads out. A straight channel from the center of the explosion and uo hight it spreads out, mushroom shaped cloud.
Some elements in the reaction are less dense, thus they rise higher faster. What stays less high are denser reactive. The heat produced increase this effect.