The atom bomb

Posted on August 28, 2007
Filed Under General |

Nuclear weapons came to existence in the mid-40s during the Second World War when a number of scientists in the US worked together in the secret Manhattan Project to develop such weapons. There are different types of atom bombs but the earliest created were based on the idea of nuclear fission.
An extensive article about nuclear weapons on Wikipedia explains how a fission bomb works,

In fission weapons, a mass of fissile material (enriched uranium or plutonium) is assembled into a supercritical mass—the amount of material needed to start an exponentially growing nuclear chain reaction—either by shooting one piece of subcritical material into another (the “gun” method), or by compressing a subcritical sphere of material chemical explosives to many times its original density (the “implosion” method). The latter approach is considered more sophisticated than the former, and only the latter approach can be used if plutonium is the fissile material used.

Nagasaki atom bomb explosionOn August 6, 1945, towards the end of the Second World War, the bomber Enola Gay of the American army released the first atom bomb codenamed Little Boy over the Japanese city Hiroshima. One third of the city’s population -140.000 persons - lost their lives within one week from the bombardment. Moreover, nearly two thirds of the city’s buildings were completely destroyed. Since then, the city has not stopped mourning victims from illnesses that are related to the bomb such as leukemia, lymphoma and cancer of lungs.

Despite the incredibly large number of casualties and destruction, Japan denied surrender. As a result, the American army repeated the blow, this time dropping another atom bomb codenamed Fat Man over the city of Nagasaki. It is estimated that 70,000 of the city’s 240,000 residents were killed immediately after the drop. Faced with a declaration of war from the Soviet Union and the complete destruction of Japan by weapons of mass destruction, emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender, effectively terminating the Second World War.

One wonders if the use of nuclear weapons at this particular time was necessary since it was evident that Japan had lost the war and it was a matter of time before they surrender. More than forty years later, the threat of attack with such weapons of mass destruction, i.e, nuclear warheads, is still used as means of intimidation and as an excuse for the defensive armament of many countries such as India, Pakistan and Iran. It is unfortunate that the pain and suffering of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki people has not become an example for modern, civilized nations to stop the production of such incredibly dangerous weapons.

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