The Atomic Bomb
Written by Laurie
Bailon
April 30, 2003
The Atomic Bomb
World War II became a period of many inventions. Thousands of inventors began researching for better ways to attack the enemy; they wanted to create something to end this destructive war. One group of inventors succeeded. This new invention was called the atomic bomb. But what was it? What did it do? And most importantly, how much damage could it create to the world and its inhabitants?
An atomic bomb, also called atom bomb, is a weapon with great explosive power that results from the release of energy. This happens when the nuclei of plutonium or uranium is split. This splitting is called fission. To understand what an atomic bomb is and how it works, you must first learn why it was made, who decided to create it, and whose hands were used to produce such a brilliant weapon.
The
first atomic bombs were built in the United States during, of course, the
second World War. A program called the Manhattan
Project was formed. The decision to embark on this project was made by
President Roosevelt. The Manhattan Project was the “wartime effort to design
and build the first nuclear weapon,” according to Encyclopedia.Com. The cost of
the program was two billion dollars, which just goes to show how important this
was and is. Those who were part of the Manhattan Project were awesome American
and European scientists and military leaders, including Albert Einstein, Leo
Szliard, Colonel James Marshall, Emilio Segre, and J. Robert Oppenheimer, who
“literally ran the show and saw to it that all of the great minds working on
the project made their brainstorms work.” He oversaw the entire project from
beginning to end.
The scientists of the
Manhattan Project were committed to research and produce a practical atomic
bomb. They discovered nuclear fission, a process in which the nuclei of atoms
are split. In this process of splitting, a huge amount of energy is released.
If this is done properly, the escaping neutrons of the original nuclei
continuously split more nuclei. This series of multiplying fissions gather up
in a chain reaction, which generates the explosion of what is known as an
atomic bomb.
The detonation of an
atomic bomb, according to Encyclopedia Britannica, releases enormous amounts of
heat that contain temperatures of several million degrees in the exploding bomb
itself. This energy creates a fireball that is powerful enough to burn a small
city. Currents created by the explosion suck dust and other ground materials
up, creating the characteristic mushroom-shape of an atomic explosion.
The detonation
produces a strong shock wave that flows outward from the blast for several
miles, losing force along the way. Such a blast can destroy buildings for
several miles from the explosion’s location. The radioactive contaminants left
over by the blast can have lethal effects weeks after.
The first atomic bomb
in the history of mankind was exploded at 5:30 A.M. on July 16, 1945 at the
Alamogordo air base in the desert of New Mexico. The bomb was placed on a tall
steel tower while scientists and military experts laid 10,000 to 17,000 yards
from the tower, with their feet toward it. They protected their eyes from the
blinding flash. The light from the blast was so intense that residents from a
faraway neighboring community saw it. Even more astonishing is a blind girl saw
the flash 120 miles away.
When the cloud of the
explosion cleared, the heat of the “nuke” had vaporized the tower that the bomb
was placed. In its place laid a huge crater and glass that formed by the
fission of sand.
The reactions of the
people who created the atomic bomb were mixed. Some said, “It was as if mankind
had become a threat to the world it inhabited.” Others signed petitions against
loosing the monster they had created. Their protest failed, however. New Mexico
was not the last site to experience an atomic explosion. (www.serendipity.li)
“Sixteen hours ago an
American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, and destroyed its
usefulness to the enemy. That bomb had more power than 20,000 tons of T.N.T. It
had more than two thousand times the blast power of the British Grand Slam;
which is the largest bomb ever yet used in the history of warfare.” These words
were said by President Roosevelt on August 6th, 1945, marking the
first public announcement of what some may say is “the greatest scientific
achievement in history.”
On August 6th,
1945 at 9:15 A.M., Japanese time, an American B-29 Superfortress, piloted by
Colonel Paul W. Jibbets, Jr., dropped the first atomic bomb used in warfare on
Hiroshima, Japan. Photographs taken from the air showed “a scene of destruction
unlike any before witnessed.” The bomb killed 60,000 people, wounded 100, 000,
and made 200,000 homeless.
The second bomb to be
used against Japan was dropped on Nagasaki at 12:01 P.M., Japanese time, on
August 9th, 1945. Another B-29 Superfortress, piloted by Major
Charles W. Sweeney, was responsible for this one. Even though this bomb was
superior to the one used at Hiroshima, it did not take as many human lives due
to the smaller population of Nagasaki. On August 10, the day after the second
bombing of Japan, the Japanese government surrendered, ending World War II.
The invention of a
weapon that killed hundreds of thousands of people, and eventually had the
potential to destroy the earth itself is known as the atomic bomb. With this
invention came the prospect of nuclear war. Since the first atomic bomb was
invented many other nations followed the lead of the U.S. to improve this new
weapon; among these nations included the Soviet Union, Great Britain, France,
China, India, and Pakistan. Germany and Japan both had programs like the
Manhattan Project during World War II to build an atomic bomb. Had either of
these two nations succeeded, the world would be a totally different place.
Bibliography:
“Nuclear Fission.” Collier’s Encyclopedia. 1988.
“Atomic Bomb.” Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. CD-ROM. 1994-2002
Outlaw Labs. “Documentation
and Diagrams of the Atomic Bomb.” Jan.1996
URL: http://www.serendipity.li/more/atomic.html
Encyclopedia.Com
AJ Software & Multimedia. “The
Atomic Archive.” 1998-2003. URL:www.atomicarchive.com
Dowling, Mike. “The Electronic Passport to the World Wars.” 2001.
URL: http://www.mrdowling.com/706wars.html
Prouty, Doug “The Race to Build the Atomic Bomb”
URL: http://intergate.cccoe.k12.ca.us/abomb/