How the atom bomb was built
The first atomic bomb was built in 1945, after 5 years of research and development with the Manhattan Project. It started in 1939 after Albert Einstein and several other scientists sent a letter to President Franklin Roosevelt about Germany’s plan to try to purify Uranium 235, which could be used to build an atomic bomb. At first nobody took this threat seriously, because nobody knew what it was and the power it had. Roosevelt didn't see this as a huge threat either. But he soon ordered the start of a project to develop the atom bomb, which was given the name the Manhattan Project in 1941. It took about 5 years to build the bomb and probably wouldn't have been done, if the equation E=mc² had not been invented, by Albert Einstein, for that equation was the base of the bomb. In addition ,to the help of many scientists that escaped Europe, the British, and Canadians helped and were helped by the US during the bomb’s development. When the project was finished, two bombs had been built, and they took the name Little Boy and Fat Man. When these bombs were built, Germany had already surrendered and there was no threat from them, but the war in the Pacific was still going on and the invasion of Japan was yet to come. Many military officials, predicated it would take over 1 million soldier's lives to take Japan, and the newly appointed US president, Harry S. Truman, wanted to avoid that at all costs. He then turned to the atomic bomb as the other option. It was then finally decided to drop the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On August 6th, 1945, Little Boy the uranium bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Three days later, Fat Man the plutonium bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. The death toll eventually rose to an estimated 250,000 deaths, many of these were from the unpredicted effects of radiation. On October 3 1945, President Truman delivered a special message to the Congress of Atomic Energy. "[...]The discovery of the means of releasing atomic energy began a new era in the history of civilization. The scientific and industrial knowledge on which this discovery rests does not relate merely to another weapon. It may some day prove to be more revolutionary in the development of human society than the invention of the wheel, the use of metals, or the steam or internal combustion engine." This quote shows that nuclear technology opened a huge field or research and development, and revolutionized humanity. It opened up what scientists perspective on the atom.
When Russia found out what the bomb could do they progressed their research and development of the bomb, which started in 1942, three years after the Manhattan Project was started. They then developed and tested their first bomb in 1949. It had an explosion of roughly 20 kilotons of TNT. When the US government discovered this, they started working on the Hydrogen bomb, which was meant to be hundreds of times more powerful than the Atomic bomb. The nuclear bomb is not that hard to understand. The Atomic bomb, is easy to think about. In uranium, or plutonium, the atoms are very unstable, when fast moving neutrons hit a nucleus, it splits into smaller nuclei, releasing energy and neutrons everywhere. When the neutrons hit more nuclei it releases more energy and neutrons, causing a chain reaction, which within microseconds causes a huge explosion, the size of several kilotons of TNT, this process is called fission. The hydrogen bomb is a lot more complex, it is caused by three separate, but almost simultaneous explosions. First there is a chemical explosion that is directed inward to a hollow plutonium metal core. The blast forces the atoms close together until it goes super critical. At that point, neutrons are injected, causing a fission reaction, and those two explosions are known as the “primary.” The primary explosion causes enough heat and pressure to cause a fusion reaction. This fusion reaction is called the “secondary," where nuclei come together and produce heat and light, that is far more powerful than the fission reaction. With those explosions, the force of the bomb created is far more than the atomic bomb. When the first hydrogen bomb built, it had a yield of 10.5 megatons, and was tested on one of the Marshall Islands, completely obliterating it.
When Russia found out what the bomb could do they progressed their research and development of the bomb, which started in 1942, three years after the Manhattan Project was started. They then developed and tested their first bomb in 1949. It had an explosion of roughly 20 kilotons of TNT. When the US government discovered this, they started working on the Hydrogen bomb, which was meant to be hundreds of times more powerful than the Atomic bomb. The nuclear bomb is not that hard to understand. The Atomic bomb, is easy to think about. In uranium, or plutonium, the atoms are very unstable, when fast moving neutrons hit a nucleus, it splits into smaller nuclei, releasing energy and neutrons everywhere. When the neutrons hit more nuclei it releases more energy and neutrons, causing a chain reaction, which within microseconds causes a huge explosion, the size of several kilotons of TNT, this process is called fission. The hydrogen bomb is a lot more complex, it is caused by three separate, but almost simultaneous explosions. First there is a chemical explosion that is directed inward to a hollow plutonium metal core. The blast forces the atoms close together until it goes super critical. At that point, neutrons are injected, causing a fission reaction, and those two explosions are known as the “primary.” The primary explosion causes enough heat and pressure to cause a fusion reaction. This fusion reaction is called the “secondary," where nuclei come together and produce heat and light, that is far more powerful than the fission reaction. With those explosions, the force of the bomb created is far more than the atomic bomb. When the first hydrogen bomb built, it had a yield of 10.5 megatons, and was tested on one of the Marshall Islands, completely obliterating it.