Nuclear War Science Making And History Essay

While the free essays can give you inspiration for writing, they cannot be used 'as is' because they will not meet your assignment's requirements. If you are in a time crunch, then you need a custom written term paper on your subject (nuclear war science making and history)
Here you can hire an independent writer/researcher to custom write you an authentic essay to your specifications that will pass any plagiarism test (e.g. Turnitin). Waste no more time!

The nuclear bomb is the most destructive weapon that is possessed by the human race at this time. It is important to the world that we live on and all if its inhabitants that nuclear bombs are controlled and managed properly so that they will not be used accidentally or unnecessarily. A grasp of the principles behind them and the events that have happened in the past is necessary for predicting possible future situations. From the inception of the idea of the atomic bomb until the present, nuclear weapons have caused a fear of nuclear holocaust; in the future they may be less of a threat of total destruction.

An understanding of the basic principles and work behind the scenes of nuclear weapons is necessary to understand much of the situation with nuclear weapons throughout the past and continuing into the future. Before any of the theory can be understood, a basic comprehension of the structure of the atom is necessary. Atoms are composed of neutrons, electrons, and protons. Neutrons and protons are found in the nucleus of an atom, which is the compact mass in the center that the electrons orbit around. The protons and neutrons are thousands of times more massive that the electrons. Neutrons have no charge, protons are positive, and electrons are negative. The similar charges repel each other, but the protons are held together in the nucleus by a force similar to gravity. In normal chemical changes the nucleus of an atom remains unchanged; in a nuclear reaction, however, nuclei of the atoms combine or split, forming other elements (Fusion 2).

Iron is the most stable element, because it has the perfect balance of repulsion between protons and attraction due to gravity. Elements with lower atomic numbers tend to undergo fusion, or combine, if put under the right circumstances. This is similar to the process on the sun, where hydrogen combines to form helium. An identical process is used in thermonuclear weapons. Atoms with higher atomic numbers tend to fission, where the atom splits. Fission is the process used in bombs like Hiroshima. The two elements that have been found to be unstable enough for nuclear weapons are U-235 (uranium-235) and Pu-239 (plutonium 239). When the nuclei are hit by stray neutrons, they will divide into several different elements and more neutrons. Protons and electrons will not hit the nucleus and break it up because protons are repelled by the positive charge of the nucleus and electrons are repelled by the other electrons orbiting the nucleus. If enough mass of fissionable material is present, a self-sustaining chain reaction is produced that releases much energy in the form of heat and light in a very short time. This reaction is called an atomic bomb (Fusion 1).

U-235 has many disadvantages for use in weapons. The large critical mass required for a chain reaction is very difficult to obtain. For every 25,000 tons of uranium ore that is mined from the earth, only 50 tons of uranium metal are produced. Only seven-tenths of one percent of this metal is U-235, which is equal to .35 tons. The rest of the metal is composed of U-238 and U-234, both of which are too stable for use in weapons. One large advantage to a uranium bomb is that it can be detonated easily. Detonation can be caused by two different methods. The first is by firing a bullet of U-235 into a large sphere of it, forming critical mass. The other method is to surround a sphere of U-235 that is not critical mass with high explosives, so that it will be compressed enough to form a critical mass. Plutonium is much more difficult to detonate but requires less critical mass. It can not be found in nature, but can be created by putting U-238 in a nuclear reactor where it picks up extra particles. Thermonuclear bombs that use the fusion process are much more devastating, and the hydrogen needed is fairly inexpensive and simple to make. Fusion is initiated in the hydrogen by placing it around a normal uranium or plutonium bomb (Shepley 12-13).

When an atomic bomb detonates, the uranium or plutonium changes into several other chemicals, many of which are radioactive and stay in the human body forever. One dangerous product is strontium. Because of its chemical similarity to calcium, it is absorbed into bones and stays there forever. Cesium, another dangerous product, is distributed evenly throughout the body. Both are radioactive, and can cause damage in future generations, cancer, and other genetic mutations. After the initial shock of the blast, there is a gust of wind that can reach over five hundred miles per hour. Several hours after detonation, there is nuclear fallout, a rain of radioactive particles. These include cesium, strontium, and many other products. The electromagnetic pulse that is generated by an atomic bomb at high altitudes scrambles all electronics over a large area. This is devestating, because most communications and all computers in a city would are scrambled. Any weapons, businesses, homes, or government facilities relying on computers are rendered nonfunctional (Fission 5).

Several events led up to the testing of the first atomic bomb at Alamogordo, New Mexico. First, nuclear fission was discovered by Otto Llahn and Lisa Meitner in 1938. Many important scientists including Albert Einstein told the United States government that a nuclear bomb might be possible. The first self-sustaining nuclear reaction was presided over by Enrico Fermi. Without informing the administrators of the possible consequences, scientists set up the first nuclear pile on the University of Chicago campus under the stadium of Stagg Field in a doubles squash court. Experimenters placed many layers of graphite and uranium into a giant pile. Slowly, giant cadmium rods that were keeping the reaction from talking place were taken out. The pile was allowed to run for four minutes before it was shut down with cadmium solution and rods. Had the pile been allowed to run unchecked, deadly neutrons from the reaction would have killed much of the population of Chicago (Beyer 33-35).

The Manhattan Project was the code-name for the United States' first atomic bomb program. Physicist Robert J. Oppenheimer was the administrative director of the project. From 1939 to 1945, the project used over two billion tax dollars. The most people employed at one time during the six years was 215,000. One hundred sixty thousand of these worked in twenty-five labs; fifty thousand more worked in a plutonium separation plant. The first atomic bomb created by the project was nicknamed "the Gadget," and was created in 1945 (Nuclear 1-2).

The setting up, detonation, and observation of the first atomic bomb was code-named Trinity. Observers were stationed five and thirty-two miles away from ground zero in a desert by an Air Force base in Alamogordo, New Mexico. At the station five miles away the observers were required to wear suntan lotion to protect them from the heat and radiation of the blast. Everybody that did not believe that the atomic bomb would work was proved wrong on July 16, 1945, when the Gadget detonated with a force of 17,000 tons of TNT. The test bomb produced heat four times greater than the sun, made night into day for two seconds, and the blast of air knocked people down stationed five miles away. People as far as one hundred miles away heard the bomb, and others one hundred eighty miles away saw the nuclear weapon explode. This extremely secret project in the deserts of New Mexico ushered this world into the atomic age (Beyer 13).

After several hours the smoke cleared; the official story was released that a stockpile of explosives accidentally went off at the Air Force base, nobody was hurt, and it was nothing to worry about. Less than a month later, several bombs were ready for use against Japan; they were approved for use by President Truman. The rationale for using them was that if the United States troops had to invade Japan, over one million American lives would be lost, and more Japanese. Thus the atomic bomb could actually be considered a life saver. Americans had a good idea of how devestating the atomic bomb would be. On August 6, 1945, the first military atomic bomb was loaded into the Engola Gay, a B-29. At 7:30 a.m. during the flight to Hiroshima, the bomb was armed by inserting the necessary explosives. At 8:16 a.m., the atomic bomb nicknamed Little Boy exploded at 1,900 feet with a force equal to twelve to fifteen thousand tons of TNT (Beyer 69-70)

Sources differ as to the amount of destruction in Hiroshima. Karl Bruckner, in his book The Day of the Bomb, said that the blast was one hundred times brighter than the sun, and a ball of fire at several million degrees was created. Eighty-six thousand people were burned to death instantly, and seventy-two thousand were severely injured. Six thousand eight hundred twenty houses were blown to pieces and sucked several miles into the air. Three thousand seven hundred fifty buildings collapsed and burned with the gale force winds. Deadly neutrons and gamma rays were dispersed over a three-quarter mile area. One article, "Fission Principles," said that 66,000 people were killed and 69,000 were severely injured.

On August 9, 1945, only three days after Hiroshima, the second military atomic bomb was loaded into the Bock's Car that was piloted by Charles Sweeney. After being switched from the primary target, Kokura, to Nagasaki due to bad weather, the bomb detonated at 11:02 a.m. at 1,650 feet with a yield equal to twenty-two kilotons of TNT (Beyer 76). Hills surrounding the city caused the blast to be less devastating. Thirty-nine thousand people were killed and twenty-five thousand injured (Fission 5). After the bombing of Nagasaki, Truman called off the other three planned atomic bombings, and Japan surrendered.

Many predictions were made as to how long it would take the Soviet Union to come up with its first viable atomic bomb. Major Leslie R. Groves, who supervised the Manhattan District, thought it would be fifteen to twenty years. The navy predicted twenty, the army fifteen, and the air force, with the...

Beyer, Don E. The Manhattan Project. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1987.
Bruckner, Karl. The Day of the Bomb. Princeton, NJ: D. Van. Nostrand, 1961.
Fission Principles. Online. Internet. 10 Oct. 1996.
Grey, Ronald William. U.S. Freefall Bombs and Nuclear Warhead Designations 1943-
1989. Online. Internet. 4 Nov. 1996.
Hellinger, Daniel. Telephone Interview. 21 Oct. 1996.
Newman, Richard J. "Special Report: Warfare 2020." U.S. News and World Report
5 Aug. 1996: 34-41.
"The Nuclear FAQ." Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science 1996. Online.
Internet. 20 Oct. 1996.
Blair, Clay Jr. and Shepley, James R. The Hydrogen Bomb: The Men, The Menace, The
Mechanism. Westport, CN: Greenwood Press, 1954.
Stine, G. Harry. ICBM: The Making of the Weapon that Changed the World. New
York, NY: Orion Books, 1991.
"Test Ban: Not For All." The Economist 14 Sept. 1996. You should cite this paper as follows:

MLA Style
. EssayMania.com. Retrieved on 16 May, 2012 from
    <http://essaymania.com/107650/nuclear-war-science-making-and-history>

More College Papers

Beta-Carotene essay
BETA-CAROTENE Beta-carotene is a member of the carotenoid family and has over 500 relatives. Carotenoids are yellow-to-red pigments found in all green plant tissues and in some species of algae. So far 21 different carotenoids have been found in human blood. The most abundant ones are alpha-ca

Music In Video Games essay
Throughout the history of the video game industry, there has been many changes concerning music in video games. Music in video games progressed greatly within the life of the industry from 1972 to the present. These progressions can be seen as improvements in quality which includes an increase in

European In The U.S. essay
European Immigrants: There were various reasond for European immigrants to come to the U.S. during the 1800s. In the British Isles, Scandinavia, and South western Germany, the enclosure system had converted peasent farms into pastures to raise woll for textile mills. The peasents therefore so