The Manhattan Project

1932 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Scientists and their contributions in the development of atomic model

Before the Manhattan Project, in the beginning there were many advancements in understanding made in the world of physics. These resulted in the recognition of nuclear fission and its potential as an energy source and as a potential weapon. Of these advancements none was more central and important than the development of the nuclear model of the atom, which by the year of 1932 contained a nucleus containing most of the mass of an atom in the form of two particles, protons and neutrons. This nucleus was surrounded by an electron shell. Previously it was thought that atoms were the smallest form of matter therefore ultimately stable and indivisible. However, in 1919 Ernest Rutherford was able to break apart the nucleus of nitrogen with alpha particles from a radioactive source.

Following these discoveries research in the area of nuclear fission took off as scientists and physicists around the world were bombarding atoms with alpha particles. Consequently rapidly advancing knowledge on the subject. In 1933 Hungarian physicists Leo Szilard proposed that if an atom split and released more neutrons than it required to split it that an expanding nuclear chain reaction could be the result. After some experimentation, he discovered that on average the fission of uranium resulted in the release of two or more neutrons. At the time he kept this secret, as it was a real possibility that this information could be used by fascist governments as a weapon with massive destructive potential. Many governments quickly realized the potential for producing energy or military weapons with the harnessing of nuclear fission. During this same time though numerous political change was occurring throughout the world. Notably in 1933 Adolf Hitler ...

... middle of paper ...

...m bomb. The plutonium bomb reached critical mass through an implosion-style detonation. With this method a sphere of plutonium is surrounded by explosives, which compress the inner sphere of plutonium to critical mass. The bomb dropped on Nagasaki and the famous Trinity test were all conducted using this type of bomb.

Bibliography

Hoddeson, Lillian, et al. Critical Assembly. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993.

Hevly, Bruce, and John M. Findlay. The Atomic West. New York: University of Washington Press, 1998.

Hughes, Jeff. The Manhattan Project. Ed. Jon Turney. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002.

Walker, Gregory. The Nuclear Weapon Archive. 13 Mar. 1999. 26 Mar. 2007 .

"The Manhattan Project." Atomic Archive. 31 Dec. 2006. 26 Mar. 2007 .

Show More
Related

  • What Are the Positive and Negative Effects of the Manhattan Project?

    679 Words  | 2 Pages

    The development of atomic bomb boosted the level of understanding in terms of physics and chemistry of that particular time period. 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”. When the released neutrons attach to other isotopes of Uranium 235, this can result in a chain reaction of fission. For every generation of fission, the amount of fission is doubled, and this resulted in an extreme outburst of energy. The amount of energy released by this process is related to Einstein’s famous equation “E=mc^2” (Wolf).

    Read More

  • Jeff Hughes: The Manhattan Project

    976 Words  | 2 Pages

    In The Manhattan project, Jeff Hughes claims that the development of atomic weapons in World War II did not create “Big Science,” but simply accelerated trends in scientific research and development that had already taken place. Hughes was able to support his argument by introducing the Big science and the atomic bomb which was a main factor of World War II. Hughes introduce “Big Science” saying, during the twentieth century, almost every aspect of science changed. He went on to explain that geographically, science spread from few countries to many. Institutionally, it spread from universities and specialist organizations to find new homes in government, public and private industry and the military. Intellectually, its contours changed with the development of entirely new disciplines and the blurring of boundaries between old ones. Hughes introduce the atomic bomb in his argument saying it was the mission by British and American scientists to develop nuclear weapons. This was known as the Manhattan project. Ways in which the construction of the atomic bomb reflect a “Big Science” approach to research and development was by making scientist share their work with each other, including universities as their laboratories for

    Read More

  • Should We Have Dropped the Atomic Bomb?

    1528 Words  | 4 Pages

    Physicists found out that among the pieces of a split atom were newly produced neutrons. These might encounter other uranium nuclei, cause them to split, and start a chain reaction. If the chain reaction was limited to a moderate pace, a new source of energy could be the result. The chain reaction could release energy rapidly and with explosive force. Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner, and Edward Teller, Hungarian-born physicists, were frightened by the possibility that Germany might produce an atomic bomb.

    Read More

  • Cold War Revisionism

    1546 Words  | 4 Pages

    Sherwin, M. (1973). The atomic bomb and the origins of the cold war. American Historical Review, 78: 1-7.

    Read More

  • The Manhattan Project : A Research Project

    1563 Words  | 4 Pages

    After being taken by the Germans convinced others that they still had the lead in developing a fission weapon. It all started with the “Hungarian conspiracy” that had everyone convinced that the creation of a nuclear bomb was possible, but that the German government was already doing research in this field of study on such a weapon. To the rest of the world, the thought of Adolf Hitler might be the first to gain control of a weapon this destructive would be terrifying to the United States. Right, then they decided that the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt must be warned about the dangers and that the United States must begin its research department. As the planned gave way, Einstein was to write a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt about the possibilities and dangers of the atomic weapons, and later was taken to the president.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Manhattan Project

    699 Words  | 2 Pages

    This study will explore the shape and scope of the Manhattan Project scientists’ political movement between 1942 and 1945. It will examine the messages they brought into the political realm and investigate how they approached political questions. It will further examine why the scientists were unable to influence wartime policy regarding the use of nuclear weaponry.

    Read More

  • The Manhattan Project: The Brain Child Of The Manhattan Project

    1466 Words  | 3 Pages

    The standards of morality are often violated during war. No one even question the ethics of certain actions until all is set and done, especially the victors. It then comes without surprise that the brain child of the Manhattan Project was one of these morally turbulent actions. The Manhattan Project, started in 1942. It consisted of a small group of government recruited scientists, physicists, chemist, metallurgists and engineers. Lead by Robert Oppenheimer in charge of developing nuclear arms [1].

    Read More

  • The Atomic Bomb

    1235 Words  | 3 Pages

    When looking at the aftermath of the atomic bomb in both Nagasaki and Hiroshima the devastation it caused is evident. The majority of the population in Japan could have never imagined such a catastrophic event. On August 6, 1945 and August 9, 1945 massive amounts of lives were changed forever when an atomic bomb fell from the sky and created an explosion as bright as the sun. These two bombs were the first and only accounts of nuclear warfare. (“Atomic Bomb is…”) The impact that the two bombs left on the cities of Japan was tremendous. The bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima devastated the country through structural damage, long term medical effects, expenses, and the massive loss of life.

    Read More

  • DBQ part 2

    544 Words  | 2 Pages

    In today’s society, many countries and even citizens of the United States question the U.S. government’s decision to get involved in nuclear warfare. These people deemed it unnecessary and stated that the U.S. is a hypocrite that preaches peace, but causes destruction and death. Before and during World War II the U.S. was presented with a difficult decision on whether or not to develop and use the atomic bomb. 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.

    Read More

  • Impact of the Manhattan Project

    505 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Manhattan Project had various short and long term affects around the world. Primarily, the research done to create an atomic bomb led to the discovery of how to harness nuclear power which affects our lives to this day. However, the Manhattan Project also led to the creation of two more atomic bombs which would be used in WWII, radiation poisoning resulting in the death of many , fear of nuclear weapons during the Cold War, the end of the Second World War which was still taking place in Japan, and the threat of nuclear weapons around the world that still exists.

    Read More

  • Manhattan Project Essay

    1419 Words  | 3 Pages

    At 5:30 AM July 16th 1945, the nuclear age had started. The world’s first atomic bomb was detonated. On August 6th 1942 at 8:15 AM, an American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, dropped a perfected atomic bomb created by the Americans, over the city of Hiroshima hoping to end the war. Thousands of people died in the two cities in Japan. They were Hiroshima and Nagasaki “the Manhattan Project”. The research and development project that produced these atomic bombs during this time was known as “the Manhattan Project”.

    Read More

  • The Atomic Bomb

    1128 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Manhattan Project: The Manhattan Project

    703 Words  | 2 Pages

    The launch of the two atomic bombs on Japan in August 1945 will lead to a long

    Read More

  • The Atomic Bomb

    1045 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Atomic Bomb It is agreed by many parts of our society that one of the main atrocities committed by the human being took place on August 6th and 9th, 1945 in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. Over 170,000 innocent Japanese individuals died due to the dropping of two atomic bombs created in the United States. This transcendent historical event suddenly ended the bloody Second World War and gave the start to a new one, the Cold War, which in fact led to an atomic weapons race between the Soviet Union and the United States of North America. It is constantly argued if the effect that the mentioned ending of the war had was positive or not to its resolution, and if the entire world got any benefits from it, but the action of dropping the nuclear weapons on the Japanese cities by the American government was completely unjustified, unnecessary, and unfair. Japan was the only nation that was still fighting against the allied countries when Germany surrendered, and its army was in very poor conditions: its troops were considerably weak, its amount of armament was running out, and the government was about to surrender in a matter of months.

    Read More

  • The Effects of the Atomic Bomb

    1337 Words  | 3 Pages

    The nuclear bomb was the most devastating weapon ever created by man. It was developed between 1942 and 1945 during the second World War. The project to build the worlds first atomic weapon was called The Manhattan Project. The nuclear bomb was based on the idea of splitting an atom to create energy, this is called fission. Three bombs were created, “Trinity”, “Little Boy”, and “Fat Man”. “Trinity” was dropped on a test site in New Mexico on July 16, 1945, proving the theories, engineering and mathematics of the bomb to be correct. Shortly after that, not more than 2 months, the U.S. performed the first actual nuclear attack in the history of war. The bomb “Little Boy” was dropped on the town of Hiroshima, instantly killing thousands. “Fat Man” was dropped shortly after on the town of Nagasaki. After the bombing almost all scientist involved with the creation of the bomb regretted its construction and spoke out against the abolishment of nuclear weapons.

    Read More

More about The Manhattan Project

Open Document