The Atomic Bomb

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The Atomic Bomb

• Hugo Caraballo
• Meredith Duval
• Adam Harvey
• Matt Ruby

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• 1932 Atom first experimentally split by John
  Cockcroft and E. T. S. Walton of Great Britain at
  Ernest Rutherfords Cavendish Laboratory at
  Cambridge University. 

Cockcroft
Rutherford
Walton
1934 Enrico Fermi unknowingly causes the first
laboratory contained nuclear fission reaction.
Fermi
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• 1939 J. Robert Oppenheimer foresees the
  possibility of the atomic bomb upon hearing about
  the theory of fission.

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August, 1939 Leo Szilard and Albert Einstein
write a letter to President Roosevelt outlining
the dangers of a German bomb project.

This led to
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The Manhattan Project
Started in late 1941 with the goal of
developing an atomic bomb before Germany
In Trumans presidency, the purpose expanded to
forcing Japans surrender and having control over
postwar policy
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First Major Challenge
Finding an acceptable and plentiful source of fuel
U-235 major fuel source
Production Methods
Magnetic Separation
Gaseous Diffusion
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Fission
238 92
239 92
0 -1
239 93
1 0
energy
U n ? U ? X e ?
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First Detonation
Alamogordo, New Mexico July 16, 1945

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Fat Man
Little Boy
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Hiroshima Nagasaki
Hiroshima Aug 6, 1945
Nagasaki Aug 9, 1945
?
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Destruction
Immediate effects Blast 35 Thermal
radiation 60 Ionizing radiation 5
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Delayed effects
Radiation
Penetrates the skin, destroying important
molecules and cells
Long-term Radioactive Fallout causes
Increased rates of cancer
Genetic defects
Radiation sickness
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But
DONT
worry
!
!
The atomic bomb is now all but obsolete!
Now we have OTHER weapons of mass destruction,
such as
Hydrogen Bombs
Biological Weapons

Finals