Bombing Of Hiroshima

4 Pages 915 Words

In 1938 German scientists discovered how to split the nuclei of a uranium atom. Releasing nuclear energy. They feared the Hitler would use this weapon against the US. The scientists searched for a way to contact the US and warn them of the potential threat of other nations creating a nuclear weapon. They look to American-German scientist Albert Einstein, who signed a letter to president Roosevelt warning of the chaos that would be released from an nuclear attack.
The letter helped initiate the first American Atomic Bomb Project. In 1941, even before Japan attacked the US at Pearl Harbor, Americas bomb project was growing.
On October 9, 1941 President Roosevelt approved research on the actual possibility of creating an Atomic Bomb.
The US Government established the top secret Manhattan Project in 1942 to develop an atomic device. The leader Leslie R. Grooves and his team of 129,000 thousand specialists, worked in several different locations but mainly in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Under the direction of American physicist J. Robert Oppenhiemer they designed and tested the first atomic devices in little then four years.
An atomic bomb is fueled by the splitting the nuclei of specific elements such as uranium and plutonium.
The first atomic bomb, code named “Trinity”, was successfully detonated in Aamogrado, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945. The energy released from the explosion was equivelent to that realesed by the detonation of 20,000 tons of TNT.
An atomic explosion causes an enourmous shockwave followed instantaneously by a rapid expansion of air called the “blast”. These are roughly half the energy released by an atomic explosion. In addition to its nearly unimaginable destructive force made up of pressure waves, flash burns, and high winds, a nuclear explosion also produces deadly radiation in the form of gamma rays.
On June 18, 1945, President Truman gave preliminary approval to the invasion plans presented ...