Manhattan Project Use of the nuclear bomb |
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A few months before the completion of the first nuclear bomb Germany surrendered. Although the war in Europe was over, the war in the Pacific raged. In July of 1945 the bomb was complete and politicians argued its use in bringing a swift end to the bloody war against Japan.
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On the morning of August 6, 1945 the first nuclear weapon, named Little Boy, was dropped on Hiroshima and triggered to explode 550 m above the ground for maximum devastation. Little Boy was a uranium fission bomb and used a sphere of the isotope U235 about the size of a grapefruit. A mass of less than 1 kilogram of uranium released an amount of energy equivalent to 20 kilotonnes of high explosives in just under one microsecond. At least 70,000 people died instantly and 70,000 died later of radiation related causes. Click for more information on uranium fission bombs.
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The mushroom cloud billowing up over Hiroshima on the morning of August 6, 1945 |
Science Worksheet What is an isotope? Help Note-Some of the links offer more information than is required to answer the questions above. |
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