[KacypeJeope]

Assuming it's not metaphorical, I presume he means that the blast caused human-shaped patterns to be made on the pavement because the blast hit the human, and therefore hit the pavement/etc. behind them less significantly in the area their body shielded than the area around their body.

My bet would be metaphorical though (the shadows of the people = their memories, things to indicate they were there, etc.)

[Yb4bulVR]

I don't know. A shadow is an image. I can believe an image being melded.

[IACJdKfU]

But you can't call that "burned into". It would be the opposite.

[HootSnori]

.

[topcasinobonua]

Originally posted by East Street Trader
But you can't call that "burned into". It would be the opposite. Precisely.

When I viewed this images in a documentary, I assumed that the human blocked the radiation and that the area around the shadow was "bleached" by the radiation blast.

[Thifiadardivy]

"The left photograph shows the stone steps of the main entrandce of Sumitomo Bank which is only 250 meters from the hypocenter. It is believed that a person sat down on the steps facing the direction of the hypocenter, possibly waiting for the bank to open. By a flash of the heat rays with temperatures well over a 1,000 degrees or possibly 2,000 degrees centigrade, that person was incineratied on the stone steps.

Up to about 10 years after the explosion, the shadow remained clearly on the stones, but exposure to rain and wind has been gradually blurring it. So, when the bank was newly built, the stone steps were removed and are now preserved at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum."

[gIWnXYkw]

It's one way to leave your mark on the world.

[orbidewa]

Originally posted by East Street Trader
It is figurative.

Quite powerfully so. My bet would be metaphorical though (the shadows of the people = their memories, things to indicate they were there, etc.) Wrong.

[olivelappers]

Originally posted by Wittlich
I concur with Wiglaf. Oh my god . . . .


so do I.

[Rffkwfct]

Sorry honey, they aren't "marks", they're shadows ingrained into the pavement. "Marks" would just be awful writing.

The guy's description isn't completely scientific but he's presumably not a scientist. It's accurate enough and isn't trying to be metaphorical. Though of course it is a powerful image, the atom bomb did the work for him.

[i6mbwwdh]

Use a proper title on the thread. People gotta be pretty bored to be attracted by this title, and even more bored to be interested in the content. I'm just doing my part to improve the quality of the forum.