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Nuclear Power In WWII. U.S. History 3. Tension Builds in the War. With the war in Europe over, America could turn its attention to the war in the Pacific. Death tolls were skyrocketing and supplies were running low.
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Nuclear Power In WWII U.S. History 3
Tension Builds in the War • With the war in Europe over, America could turn its attention to the war in the Pacific. • Death tolls were skyrocketing and supplies were running low. • America no longer needed to worry about a Nuclear Arms Race with Adolf Hitler out of the picture, but R and D projects resumed.
Power in the wrong hands • German Scientists under command of Adolf Hitler were trying to unlock the power of nuclear fission and atom splitting before the war ended. • America was also in the same race to unlock nuclear power under the Manhattan Project. • Germany drafted foreign scientists to help beat the Americans in the nuclear arms race.
America achieves Nuclear Power • In 1945, hard work pays off in the success in the American’s “Manhattan Project”. • Code name “Trinity”, yield between 18-20 kilotons, first plutonium implosion detonation. • Gave way to code name “Little Boy” and “Fat Man”.
How a Nuclear Bomb Works • Nuclear bombs consist of either gold, plutonium 238, uranium 235, or titanium. • Gold or titanium atoms are put into an atom splitter which smash into a plutonium or uranium atom, releasing their energy in an unstable manner causing an explosion of massive proportion. • Scientists later learned that they could use plutonium to smash into uranium to cause a thermal nuclear explosion.
Use of Nuclear Weapons in the War • During the war, American leaders decided that their main objective was to end the war in the pacific, their main battle front. • With resources dwindling, America needed to end the war before their soldiers and supplies were completely drained. • They decided to use nuclear weapons in an act of anger, but also saw it as a viable “diplomatic” solution.
Hiroshima • On August 6th, 1945, the Enola Gay dropped code name “Little Boy”, a 12-18 kiloton nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. • The pilot of the Enola Gay was Paul Tibbets, who was a graduate of the Western Military Academy in Alton, IL • “Little Boy” was the first bomb to use a uranium trigger device to detonate the bomb. • Killed 60-70% of the cities population and affected everyone within a 10 mile radius on initial impact.
Nagasaki • On August 9th, 1945, the Nuclear Bomb code named “Fat Man” was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan by the bomber BockScar. • “Fat Man” was a 18-23 kiloton plutonium splitting trigger system bomb that killed 80% of Nagasaki’s population and affected everyone within a 15 mile radius of the blast.
Effects of the Bombs • When a nuclear bomb is dropped, the body instantly ignites at temperatures of over 12,000 degrees. • A series of shock waves smashes everything within 3 miles of the blast, pulverizing bone and demolishing buildings. • Anyone who is not caught in the blast but looks in the general direction of the explosion instantly goes blind with no hope of ever seeing again.
After Affects • The radiation cloud caused by the explosions traveled to the west, due to the winds coming off of the Pacific Ocean. • Plant life suffered severely due to the high amounts of radiation which suffocated the plants. • People who were hit with the radiation were struck with violent vomiting and sickness from the radiation. Their children were born with sever birth defects which are still visible in children being born today.
The End of the War • Japan was forced to end the war in the Pacific due to their massive casualties and their lose of resources. • America and Japan became mutual allies after the war and are now major trading nations between each other. • This was the last time that nuclear weapons were used in acts of war.
Nuclear Power Development • America tested 1,054 nuclear bombs and devices over the years, some were atmospheric tests. • Other nations soon fell in nuclear control such as Russia, France, the United Kingdoms, and North Korea.
Nuclear Treaty. • In 1956, world leaders were overwhelmed with fear of a nuclear war. • The world leaders made all countries in control to sign the Nuclear treaty to stop the manufacturing, research, development and testing of all nuclear technology. • 5 years went by where all countries followed this treaty, until Russia detonated the largest nuclear weapon ever recorded.
The Monster Bomb • Code name “Tsar”, Russia violated the Nuclear act in 1961 by the detonation of “Tsar” • The Thermal Nuclear bomb had a yield of 50,000 Kilotons and had a blast radius of 8 miles, it is the largest nuclear detonation on record. • The Nuclear Treaty was completely abandoned after this test.
