7 The Nuclear Bomb
Jacob Marasco
7.1 Introduction
Keywords
- Radiation: Energy that comes from a source and travels through space at the speed of light and can damage the DNA in our cells.
- Isotopes: Two or more types of atoms that have the same atomic number and position in the periodic table.
- Manhattan Project: Research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons.
- Trinity Test: The code name of the first detonation of a nuclear weapon.
- Hiroshima: A city that is located on Japan’s Honshu Island and on August 6, 1945, it was the sight of the first Nuclear bomb dropped on a city during war.
- Nagasaki: A city that is located on the northwest coast of the island of Kyushu. On August 9, 1945, just three days after the Hiroshima bombing, Nagasaki would be bombed as well.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter, students should be able to:
- Comprehend the true dangers of radiation and the nuclear bomb
- Understand why the Manhattan Project began
- Differentiate between Hiroshima and Nagasaki
- Understand why those who created the bomb were scared of it.
- Tell what date the first bomb was made and tested.
It is a normal day in the city. Birds are chirping, and everyone is going through their regular routine. Out of nowhere, a blinding light followed by a blast destroys everything in sight. The surrounding areas are covered in radiation, and every living creature within a few miles is dead. This is the nuclear bomb, and this is what the citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki experienced at the end of World War ll.
The first atomic bomb, or nuclear bomb, was invented on July 16, 1945, by J. Robert Oppenheimer during the Manhattan Project. The Manhattan Project was a research and development operation that began at the start of World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. The project was led by the United States and had the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. The Manhattan Project was initially created because there was a fear that Nazi Germany had been building these types of weapons since the 1930s.
7.2 What is a Nuclear bomb?
Key Takeaways
- Learning how nuclear bombs worked
- Compare the differences between different atomic bombs.
Also known as the most powerful weapon on earth, the nuclear bomb has only been used in war twice; however, the consequences it brings to the environment and to the population are unmeasurable. There are many questions as to what a nuclear bomb is and all of the different types of variations there may be to how it works.
How it works:
In order for the nuclear bomb to work, it has to start either an uncontrolled or controlled fusion. This usually occurs when some sort of chemical explosive force a uranium or plutonium core to implode to critical mass. This means that the atoms are so close together that if a neutron ejected from an atom, it would cause the rest to do the same, and this would cause a nuclear reaction and, thus, an explosion.
Thermonuclear b