Cause of Nuclear Weapons: In 1939 just before the start of World War 2 Albert Einstein and several other scientists told the then president of the USA Franklin D. Roosevelt that Nazi Germany was putting efforts into purifying Uranium 235 which could be used to build an atomic bomb. The United States launched the Manhattan Project shortly after this which was committed to research and production that would produce a viable atomic bomb (Purohit V. 2004 Online “The Atom Bomb: A Brief History”). How a Nuclear Fission Bomb works: For a nuclear fission bomb to work the fuel needs to be kept in two subcritical mass chambers to avoid the premature detonation of the bomb. For the bomb to detonate the two subcritical masses must be brought together to form a supercritical mass, (Fruedenrich C & Fuller J, 2000 Online) this is usually done in two ways, a gun-triggered fission bomb and a implosion triggered fission bomb. The two subcritical masses are two parts of radioactive metal (often Plutonium or Uranium-235) which are held with in a sphere, with in this is a neutron generator to trigger a fission reaction. Neutrons are introduced through the use of the neutron generator; the generator is a pellet of polonium and beryllium-9 separated by a layer of foil within the core of the fissionable fuel. When the foil is broken the two subcritical masses combine and the polonium begins to emit alpha particles. These alpha particles combine with the beryllium-9 to produce beryllium-8 and free neutrons. (Schlumberger Limited, 2009) These free neutrons then are absorbed into the nucleus of the radioactive metal which immediately splits resulting in a smaller atom and the emission of 3 neutrons which again are absorbed into more atoms as it ... ... middle of paper ... ...g/nuke/control/npt/ (Accessed 25 May 2009) New Internationalist – Nuclear Weapon Facts, 2008 (Online) Available at: http://www.newint.org/features/2008/06/01/nuclear-weapons-facts (Accessed 25 May 2009) Nuclear Legacy – The Cold War 2008 (Online) Available at: http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/coldwar/page27.shtml (Accessed 25 May 2009) Pike, J. 2009 Nuclear Weapons Testing (Online) Available at: http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/dprk/nuke-test-1.htm (Accessed 26 May 2009) US Department of Energy – The Manhattan Project, 2009 (Online) Available at: http://www.cfo.doe.gov/me70/manhattan/nagasaki.htm (Accessed 24 May 2009) Works Cited Dickey, N. H. ed. 1986, Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia – Vol 7 COLOR-DALY , Funk & Wagnalls, Inc. USA Dickey, N. H. ed. 1986, Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia – Vol 19 NEWJ- ORTH, Funk & Wagnalls, Inc. USA
Physicists started to realize that stable nuclei can be converted to unstable nuclei. Through such process, they discovered that heavy nuclei can undergo nuclear fission. While testing, they added a neutron to an isotope of Uranium 235. This resulted Uranium 235 to become unstable and break down into Barium and Krypton, releasing two to three more neutrons. The breakdown of Uranium 235 is called “fission”.
N. p. Alfred A. Knopf, 1975. Print. The. Bryant, Jeffrey Michael.
They insisted that Albert Einstein inform President Roosevelt about the possibility of the Germans making an atomic bomb. In late 1939, President Roosevelt ordered an American effort to make an atomic bomb before the Germans.
Upon entering World War II as a result of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States faced the burden of fighting two dangerous military powers: Germany and Japan. Germany was developing new, secret weapons that could very likely be a potential threat to the United States. It had been reported that German scientists were experimenting with splitting the atom, which would release an enormous amount of energy.1 Whoever was successful with this tactic had the power to control the world. After receiving this information, President Harry Truman went into shock. The United States began atomic research shortly after with the help of physicists Leo Szilard and Albert Einstein.2 This effort was code-named the Manhattan Project, which took place in Los Alamos, New Mexico. The project involved more than half a million people working to design and predict the results of an atomic bomb. After spending two billion dollars, a test called Trinity was cond...
Seventh ed. Vol. 2. New York, NY: W.W. Norton &, 2008. 985-93. Print. 1866 to the Present.
William Cullen Bryant, II. The New England Quarterly. Vol 21. No 2. (Jun., 1948): 163-184.
“Early in 1939, The worlds scientific community discovered that German physicists had learned the secrets of splitting the uranium atom and word spread quickly and several countries began to duplicate the experiment.” Albert Einstein warned President Roosevelt that Germany may have already built an atomic bomb. Roosevelt did not see an urgency for such a project, but agreed to proceed slowly. In 1941, British scientists pushed America to develop an atomic weapon. America’s effort was slow until 1942 when Colonel Leslie Groves took over. He quickly chose personnel, production sites and set schedules to invent the atomic
The U.S. decided to develop the atomic bomb based on the fear they had for the safety of the nation. In August 1939 nuclear physicists sent manuscripts to Albert Einstein in fear the Germany might use the new knowledge of fission on the uranium nucleus as way to construct weapons. In response, on August 2, 1939, Einstein sent a letter to President Roosevelt concerning the pressing matter to use uranium to create such weapons before Germany (Doc A-1). To support the development of the atomic bomb, President Roosevelt approved the production of the bomb following the receipt that the bomb is feasible on January 19, 1942. From this day to December of 1942, many laboratories and ...
To detonate one of these bombs, enough mass of plutonium or uranium must be provided to reach what is known as "critical mass." Critical mass is the mass at which the nuclear reactions going on inside the material can make up for the neutrons that are leaving the material through its outside surface. These materials are usually separated within the bomb so that critical mass cannot be reached until the bomb is ready to explode. Once the chemical reactions within the bomb begin, the neutrons released by each reaction hit other atoms and create more fission reactions until all the material is scattered, or completely exhausted. This process releases enormous amounts of energy in the form of extreme heat and a massive shock wave. These nuclear explosions, in addition to their pressure waves, high winds, and flash burns, produce deadly radiation that contaminates soil and water, and destroyed living matter.
Smirnov, Yuri, Vladislav Zubok. “Nuclear Weapons after Stalin’s Death: Moscow enters the H-Bomb Age.” Cold War International History Project. March 1994.
From the creation of nuclear weapons at the start of the Cold War to today, the world has experienced struggles fueled by the want of nuclear power. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and Iran’s nuclear weapon program are some of the most important conflicts over nuclear weapons. Thanks to the use of nuclear weapons in 1945 to end World War II, the world has come extremely close to a nuclear war, and more countries have began developing nuclear power. Unmistakably, many conflicts since the start of the Cold War have been caused by nuclear weapons, and there are many more to come.
The nuclei are ejected from heavy, unstable nuclei so as to remove excess protons and neutrons. However, the formed nuclei may still be radioactive in which even further decay will occur. Alpha emissions occur in nuclei with atomic numbers greater than 83. E.g 23892U 42He + 23490Th (both mass and No. of protons are conserved during the reaction)
Prior to World War II, the United States of America had very little interest in the development of a nuclear weapon. German forces seized c...
Greenblatt and M. H. Abrams. 8th ed. Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006. 1891
Nuclear energy is generated by a process called fission. Fission occurs within the reactor of a nuclear power plant when a neutron is fired at an atom of uranium causing it to split and release subsequent neutrons.1 These are able to crash into other uranium atoms causing a chain reaction and releasing a great deal of heat energy.