atomic bomb

December 7, 1941, Japanese aircraft attacked by surprise, the U.S. military base at Pearl Harbor. Following the attack, the United States turned their research into a new kind of weapon. The result has caused devastating new weapon that has forced Japan to surrender and end World War II. It is thus a question of the atomic bomb. First, let's talk about the history of the atomic bomb. Second, we will develop its operations and finally, we examine the effects this invention has had on humanity and the environment.

History of the atomic bomb

It all began in 1898 when the physicist Ernest Rutherford and his colleague explained that the disintegration of certain atomic nuclei resulting radioactivity. Subsequently, Albert Einstein, in 1905, showed his famous theory of relativity, E = mc ².
This formula means that the total energy released by a material amount shall be equal to its mass multiplied by the square of the speed of light. This is a letter from Einstein to President Roosevelt for one learns the possibility of making a new kind of ultra powerful bomb running nuclear power and the possibility that the Germans are already under way to build this type of bomb .
It is with eagerness that the President has established the project "Manhattan" in 1942, which was to see if it was possible to create a chain reaction and once this is done, draw up plans for the creation of the nuclear bomb. Before starting the atomic bomb on Japan, the Americans wanted to be sure of its effectiveness so they tested in the desert of New Mexico three weeks before the release of the first bomb on Hiroshima. They were incredibly surprised at the results. The Manhattan Project, which cost a total of two billion, was used to construct three bombs: "Trinity", the bomb that was used for the test; "Littleboy", which devastated Hiroshima September 6, 1945 and "Fatman "the machine that leveled Nagasaki three days later.

Operation of the atomic bombThe operation of the atomic bomb was developed during the project "Manhattan". The explosion was caused by a nuclear fission. Nuclear fission is produced when a neutron collides with the nucleus of an atom of Uranium 235 or Plutonium 239 in the case of bombs in 1945.
Collision in turn releases two neutrons which will in turn hit other nuclei, so a chain reaction occurs, releasing a hundred million times more energy than a molecule of fuel less one hundredth of a second. To cause the most damage possible, the bomb did not explode on contact with the ground, but about 500 meters to the diameter of the explosion is larger, not only in height. Bomb "Littleboy" was a nucleus of uranium 235 and equivalent to the power of 12 500-13 000 tonnes of TNT, very powerful explosive used in the manufacture of dynamite.
Compared to the Hiroshima bomb, the Nagasaki had a larger diameter and was round. This machine was three meters and twenty centimeters and had a diameter of one meter fifty centimeters. It weighed more than four and a half tons. Unlike "LittleBoy" exploding by the fission of uranium-235 atoms, "Fat Man" decays by compression of plutonium-239, in the center. It gives off a destructive power equivalent to twenty thousand tons of TNT compared to "Little Boy" which amounted to a power of twelve thousand five hundred tons of Trinitrotoluene (TNT).

Effects on humanity and the environmentThe atomic bomb identifies three devastating. The first millionth of a second, the thermal energy is released into the air and converts it into a ball of fire about a kilometer in diameter and several million degrees. The ground temperature reaches several thousand degrees at impact. Within 1 km, while instantly burned and reduced to ashes.
 Up to 4 km radius, buildings and humans catch fire spontaneously people located within 8 km suffer third-degree burns. After the heat, it's time for the shock wave to show its devastating effect. It is created by the tremendous pressure due to the expansion of the hot gas, it moves at a speed of nearly 1,000 kilometers an hour, it looks like a solid wall of air. The shock wave reduces any dust in a radius of 2 kilometers. Of the 90,000 buildings in the city, 62,000 were completely destroyed. The third effect, still unknown in 1945, is one of the nuclear explosion, it is indeed the most specific to the bomb, but it is also the most deadly. It causes all sorts of deadly diseases. This is all the more terrifying that these effects do not appear until days, months, years after the explosion.

Following this presentation, we know that this is Albert Einstein in 1905, developed the theory of relativity, which gave rise to the idea of ​​the atomic bomb. In 1945, the power of this weapon was demonstrated by killing more than one hundred thousand Japanese and ending World War II. Today, we can say that the atomic bomb is the weapon most famous and most powerful in the world, then is it possible that it triggers the next world war?

Five things we learned during the research:
• The theory of relativity, developed by Albert Einstein, is responsible for the operation of the atomic bomb.
• The atomic bomb was developed by the Americans in the project "Manhattan" following the approval of President Roosevelt in 1942.
• The atomic bomb does not explode on contact with the ground, but about 500 meters.
• "Fatman", the bomb that leveled Nagasaki September 9, 1945, had a power equivalent to 20,000 tons of TNT.
• The most destructive effect of the atomic bomb is the nuclear explosion that causes all sorts of deadly diseases and causes malformations in fetuses. These effects are even months and years after the explosion.