a scientific revolution
“The top drawing shows in its most rudimentary form the uranium atom - billions upon billions of which are used in the new atomic bomb. This atom is made of ninety-two electrons circling around a center. The electrons are held in their orbits by the attraction of the positive electrical force of the center - called protons. Each atom is so tiny that many millions would be required to equal to the size of the sharpest pin point. When the uranium atom explodes, as illustrated at top right, it divides into two approximately equal parts, each one a complete atom of a different chemical element, about half uranium’s weight. Explosion of one uranium atom gives off 200,000,000 electrons volts of energy or power. In an atomic bomb, some astronomical number of these atoms explodes simultaneously."
-The Green Flash, August 1945
-The Green Flash, August 1945
“In this bomb a short barreled smooth bore gun and a target near the muzzle are contained in the bomb. The gun shoots a projectile of U-235 into the target of the same material, thus forming a more than critical mass which it is estimated will explode with a force equivalent to of from 8,000 to 20,000 tons of TNT.”
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“In this bomb, a small sphere of plutonium is surrounded by a much larger sphere of high explosives. When the high explosives are detonated, the plutonium is compressed into a still smaller sphere of much greater density which...becomes super-critical and explodes. It is estimated that the bomb will explode with a force equivalent to that of from 4,000 to 6,000 tons of TNT.”
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-Memorandum for the Secretary of War: Atomic Fission Bombs, April 23, 1945
A simplified description of the process behind the atomic bomb:
“Either of two materials, plutonium…and uranium-235, is used as the explosive substance. Natural uranium, like all elements, is composed of different kinds of atoms called isotopes. One of those is uranium-235 (U-235) which comprises 0.7% of all uranium…an atom is made up of neutrons, electrons, and protons. In this development we are interested in the neutrons. When a free neutron, from outside the atom, strikes an atom of U-235, the collision causes the atom to break into two parts freeing more neutrons and releasing a relatively large amount of energy. This splitting of an atom is known as fission. If the neutron does not hit a U-235 atom, but instead, meets a U-238 atom, it may be captured by the U-238 which is then transmuted into plutonium.”
-Memorandum for the Secretary of War: Atomic Fission Bombs, April 23, 1945
-Memorandum for the Secretary of War: Atomic Fission Bombs, April 23, 1945
The atomic bomb defied the past, unlike any other weapon in the history of mankind. Not only did it wreak unparalleled destruction, but also it was one of the few agents of death against which it was impossible to stand. Countermeasures have always been discovered against weapons, but no antidote exists for the atomic bomb.
"While President Truman’s announcement said that one atomic bomb was released, both the communique and the later Domei dispatch referred to the bomb in the plural, indicating the Japanese could not believe that only a single bomb was used...the dispatch claimed Japanese authorities already were busy on countermeasures and declared that "the history of war shows that the new weapon, however effective, will eventually lose its power" because of discovery of ways to nullify its effect."
-The Call Bulletin, August 1945 |
"In the past, science has often been able to provide new methods of protection against new weapons of aggression it made possible, but it cannot promise such efficient protection against the destructive use of nuclear power."
-The Franck Report, 1945
-The Franck Report, 1945
Below, Oppenheimer discusses this frightening aspect of atomic weapons.