The Atomic Bomb

Hugo Caraballo
Meredith Duval
Adam Harvey
Matt Ruby
*1932 Atom first experimentally split by John Cockcroft and E. T. S. Walton of
Great Britain at Ernest Rutherford’s Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University.

Cockcroft Rutherford Walton

*1934 Enrico Fermi unknowingly causes the first laboratory
contained nuclear fission reaction.

Fermi
*1939 J. Robert Oppenheimer foresees the possibility of
the atomic bomb upon hearing about the theory of
fission.
*August, 1939 Leo Szilard and Albert Einstein
write a letter to President Roosevelt outlining
the dangers of a German bomb project.

This led to…

 The Manhattan Project
*Started in late 1941 with the goal of
developing an atomic bomb before Germany

*In Truman’s presidency, the purpose

expanded to forcing Japan’s surrender and
having control over postwar policy
 First Major Challenge:
Finding an acceptable and plentiful source of fuel

U-235: major fuel source

Production Methods:

*Magnetic Separation

*Gaseous Diffusion
 Fission

238 1 239 239 0

92 U + n 
0 92 U  93 X + -1e  energy
 First Detonation
Alamogordo, New Mexico
July 16, 1945
Little Boy Fat Man
 Hiroshima & Nagasaki
Hiroshima : Aug 6, 1945

Nagasaki : Aug 9, 1945


 Destruction
Immediate effects:
*Blast 35%
*Thermal radiation 60%
*Ionizing radiation 5%
 Delayed effects:
Radiation:
*Penetrates the skin, destroying important molecules and cells
Long-term Radioactive Fallout causes
*Increased rates of cancer
*Genetic defects
*Radiation sickness
 But DON’T worry ! !
The atomic bomb is now all but obsolete!
Now we have OTHER weapons of mass
destruction, such as
*Hydrogen Bombs
*Biological Weapons
&
*Finals