The Atom Bomb Essay Research Paper The — страница 2

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dropped the untested plutonium bomb and it failed to work, “the enemy would find themselves owners of a ‘gift’ atomic weapon.”(Szasz 26) The final agreement for the test was that the bomb would be placed in “a gigantic, 214-ton, cylinder-shaped tank (called ‘Jumbo’).”(Szasz 26) If the plutonium correctly fissioned, the tank would be vaporized. If it did not work correctly, the conventional explosives would be contained in the tank and the plutonium would stay in the tank. After further development of the implosion design and fears that “Jumbo” would dramatically distort all “their complicated instrumentation-the raison d’?tre for the test,”(Szasz 36) the world’s largest pressure tank was not used.On Monday, July 16, 1945, at 5:29:45 A.M., Mountain War

Time, a plutonium bomb ignited at the Trinity site, a remote site in the New Mexico desert. “The explosion created s brilliant flash that was seen in three states. There were many reports from civilians from all over that described the experience. People who saw it said it looked like the sun had risen for a few minutes and then went back down. Others thought they had seen a large plane or meteor crash. A sheep herder who was laying sleeping on a cot fifteen miles away was blown off. The Smithsonian Observatory on Burro Mountain confirmed a shock but noted that the vibrations were unlike any earthquake ever recorded. An eight year-old boy was awakened and ran for his Methodist parents, and they considered if this might be the end of the world. The most powerful statement that

has been cited in practically every coverage of the atomic bomb is Georgia Green’s experience. She was being driven to Albuquerque. “What was that?” she asked her brother-in-law, who was driving. This was very unusual because Georgia Green was blind. Brigadier General Farrell wrote a letter for the Secretary of War. “‘No man-made phenomenon of such tremendous power had ever occurred before . . . Thirty seconds after the explosion came, first, the air blast pressing hard against people and things, to be followed almost immediately by the strong, sustained, awesome roar which warned of doomsday and made us feel that we puny things were blasphemous to dare tamper with forces heretofore reserved to the Almighty. Words are inadequate tools for the job of acquainting those

not present with the physical, mental and psychological effects.”Upon witnessing the explosion, reactions among the bomb’s creators were mixed. Their mission had been successfully accomplished, however, they questioned whether “the equilibrium in nature had been upset-as if humankind had become a threat to the world it inhabited.” Oppenheimer was ecstatic about the success of the bomb. Many people who were involved in the creation of the atomic bomb signed petitions against dropping the bomb.The atomic bomb has been used twice in warfare. The Uranium bomb nicknamed “Little Boy,” which weighed over 4.5 tons, was dropped over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. At 0815 hours the bomb was dropped from the Enola Gay. It missed Ground Zero at 1,980 feet by only 600 feet. At 0816

hours, in the flash of an instant, 66,000 people were killed and 69,000 people were injured by a 10 kiloton atomic explosion. Nagasaki fell to the same treatment as Hiroshima on August 9, 1945. The plutonium bomb, “Fat Man,” was dropped on the city. It missed its intended target by over one and a half miles. Nagasaki’s population dropped in one split-second from 422,000 to 383,000. 39,000 were killed, over 25,000 were injured. That blast was less than 10 kilotons as well. Physicists who have studied the atomic explosions conclude that the bombs utilized only 0.1% of their respective explosive capabilities.Controversy still exists about dropping the two atomic bombs on Japan. Arguments defending the Japanese claim “the atomic bomb did not win the war in the Pacific; at

best, it hastened Japanese acceptance of a defeat that was viewed as inevitable.” Other arguments state that the United States should have warned the Japanese, or that we should have invited them to a public demonstration. On the other side, advocates claimed that the invasion of the Japanese islands could and would result in over one million military casualties plus the civilian losses based on previous invasions of Japanese occupied islands.BibliographyBatchelder, R.C. The Irreversible Decision. Houghton Mifflin Company Boston, The Riverside Press Cambridge, 1962Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc. Academic American Encyclopedia. Groueff, Stephane. Manhattan Project. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1967Szasz, Ferenc Morton. The Day The Sun Rose Twice. Albuquerque: