Kaboom

Kaboom! That’s the sound of a nuclear bomb going off! The nuclear weapon isn’t your ordinary weapon; when it is deployed it has a “50% blast, 35% thermal radiation, 15% as a nuclear reaction, 5% as initial ionizing radiation (gamma waves), and 10% as residual nuclear radiation” (Nuclear Weapon Effects). The nuclear In December 1938, the German chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann sent a manuscript to Naturwissenschaften reporting they had detected the element barium after bombarding uranium with neutrons; simultaneously, they communicated these results to Lise Meitner. Meitner, and her nephew Otto Robert Frisch, correctly interpreted these results as being nuclear fission. Frisch confirmed this experimentally on 13 January 1939. This information is quite scary because if the Germans were able to develop nuclear weapons before America; Hitler would of used it ruthlessly and who knows what the world would be like today' The development of nuclear weapons is clearly dangerous especially if it ends up in the wrong hands for many reasons, harmful to the environment and population, and is a great financial burden. These are the reasons why the US should stop the development of nuclear weapons. Let’s start off by saying that if the U.S were to keep on developing nuclear weapons it will cause more harm than good. First of all, the reason why the atomic bomb isn’t like the conventional bomb is that the conventional bomb gets its energy from the burning of chemical compounds, atomic bombs get their energy from nuclear fusion, splitting of the atom, which is very powerful. Such a reaction releases more than ten times the energy of a typical bomb; As it was reported by eyewitnesses from Hiroshima “The bomb was so powerful that the country looked like a skating rink” (The Most Powerful Bomb Constructed). Another reason why nuclear weapons are so dangerous is that it can be misunderstood. As you already know nuclear weapons are very powerful and when one country develops them, another country feels threatened and they begin to develop nuclear weapons. As Yan Xuetong, director of the Institute of International Affairs at Qinghua University in China, stated “The U.S says this is a defensive system, but everyone knows it will be used to strengthen [the U.S.’s] offensive capacity. It protects [U.S.] troops so [the U.S.] can attack any time without fear of retribution” (National High School Debate). This statement shows how that when U.S. keeps building nuclear weapons the tension keeps on rising between countries. Critics also worry that a developing nuclear weapons will be perceived as a threat by Russia, and could further strain U.S-Russia relations; Critics also point out that Russia has more than enough nuclear capability to overcome any shield that the U.S. develops. Backers state that developing nuclear weapons will defend our country for the good of the people. Even Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Coalition to Reduce Nuclear Dangers, replied “Why perpetuate a crisis when the technology will not provide the protection you desire” (National High School Debate). Daryl is saying that developing nuclear weapons isn’t helping the country at all in matter of fact it’s creating more harm. To save the people and to stay away from the idea of a World War 3 the U.S. should stop developing nuclear weapons. The misconception about nuclear bombs and weapons is that pedestrians think that the bomb just kills people on impact then it is done. Wrong! The effects of a nuclear bomb are even more devastating than when it was dropped. People think that people die from the blast but most of the people die from the radiation the nuclear weapons releases. When the U.S. dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima it was estimated that “The people by the end of 1945 that died from burns, radiation, and related diseases, range from 90,000 to 140,000” (Nuclear Weapons). Wow with eye-popping stats like that why the U.S. would want to continue to develop nuclear weapons is unbelievable. It doesn’t stop there studies show that “An estimate that up to 200,000 people had died by 1950, due to cancer and other long term affects” (Brookings). The radiation was so bad that kids were starting to have birth effects because everything was contaminated (water, food, animals) and what was sad was that the parents couldn’t do anything about it. Backers state that they had no other choice but to drop the bomb because they figure that they won’t lose any soldiers! That’s real selfish of them! It’s sad that the U.S. would kill over 300,000 and ruin a whole generation of people just because the U.S. wants to save its soldiers. As a human being, you don’t want to see something like this where you witness a whole generation go away from one bomb. As the U.S., one of the great leaders in the world, take a stand and stop building nuclear weapons for the kids and world’s sake. Third and foremost, the money U.S. spends on nuclear weapons is enough to put anyone into a comma. The U.S. is always complaining how they are in debt but they go around and spend a whooping “5.8 trillion dollars between the years 1940-1996” (Issue Brief). Wow and we say we are in a recession! Spending this much money to kill a mass destruction of people is just bizarre. The fact that seems to stun people is that “The cost of the Manhattan Project (through Aug. 1945) alone cost: 20,000,000,000” (Brookings). As a human being I never see so much zeros but in my dreams. The crazy thing is that all we got was 10,600 (7,982 deployed, 2,700 hedge/contingency stockpile). Supporters of the nuclear weapons development in the U.S. state that money is nothing when regarding the safety of the people. First off it’s been reported that Russia has enough firepower that no matter the defense, they could penetrate it. Second of all, instead of spending all this money on weapons of mass destruction U.S. should spend it other useful activities such as helping the homeless, improve medicare, help third war countries, or pay the soldiers more money because it’s ironic that the soldiers is worth less than the weapon they carry. So in all America needs to stop placing a financial burden on itself and hope for the next generation to fix it! All developments of nuclear weapons in the U.S. should be halted and destroyed for the country’s sake. It’s been said that U.S. and Russia alone have enough nuclear firepower to destroy all living things in the world seven times. With that kind of power at hand; as people it’s kind of scary because any second you could be turned into dust! All nuclear weapons do is cause trouble, during the Arms race Russia and U.S. was competing against each other just to determine who has more power. This Arms race almost put the planet Earth to rest just because of two countries fighting about who has more bombs and who has more power. U.S. should stop building nuclear weapons because it’s very harmful to the environment and the population. The money the U.S. has spent is insane; the U.S. has probably spent enough money to feed America for three years. It’s ironic how the U.S. promotes peace after they continue to develop nuclear weapons. In all America should stop developing nuclear weapons for the good of the world because if they stop other countries won’t be threatened and the world would be safe at last.