Manhattan_Project

The Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was an underground project formed by the U.S. government to develop a nuclear fission device called the atomic bomb. An atomic bomb is a weapon that uses the energy from a nuclear reaction called Fission for its destruction. The Manhattan Project was the code name of United States attempt to construct an atomic bomb during World War II. The purpose of the Manhattan Project was simple: to build; test; and use its power if necessary. The Manhattan Project was carried out in extreme secrecy. By 1945, the project had nearly 40 laboratories and factories which employed approximately 200,000 people. In 1939, Just before the beginning of World War II, Albert Einstein wrote a letter to the President of United States Franklin D. Roosevelt in which Einstein told Roosevelt about Nazi German efforts to purify Uranium-235 which might be used to build an atomic bomb. Alarmed about Hitler’s purpose, the president Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered an effort to obtain an atomic weapon before Germany. For this mission were contracted some of the greatest scientists that have ever lived. The Scientists recruited to produce an atom bomb were Robert Oppenheimer (USA), David Bohm (USA), Leo Szilard (Hungary), Eugene Wigner (Hungary), Rudolf Peierls (Germany), Otto Frisch (Germany), Niels Bohr (Denmark), Felix Bloch (Switzerland), James Franck (Germany), James Chadwick (Britain), Emilio Segre (Italy), Enrico Fermi (Italy), Klaus Fuchs (Germany) and Edward Teller (Hungary). The most complicated issue to be addressed in the making of an atomic bomb was the production of ample amounts of "enriched" uranium to sustain a chain reaction. Over the course of six years, from 1939 to 1945, more than $2 billion were spend during the history of the Manhattan Project. The formulas for refining uranium and putting together a working atomic bomb were created and seen to their logical ends by some of the greatest minds of our time. Robert Oppenheimer, oversaw the project from conception to completion. For a better understanding it is good to know that a nuclear fission device called the atomic bomb is a “chemical process that splits an atom in two, releasing a colossal amount of energy. A neutron, with an extreme amount of force, enters an atom and splits it in half. The energy released from the split releases more neutrons causing a chain reaction of immense proportions. A nuclear fission device made with Uranium, such as Little Boy, would release the equivalent of 20,000 tons of TNT or 40,000,000 sticks of dynamite. The two radioactive elements that were used in the bombs were Uranium and Plutonium.” (1) The uranium is a radioactive metallic element usually used in nuclear technology and it is extremely toxic. That is why it is used to make atomic bombs in order to fuel nuclear reactors. The Plutonium is an artificially produced radioactive element, a silvery metal that can be melted at 640 degrees Celsius. Plutonium is extremely poisonous. When the plutonium is inside, the body can become sick and thus cause cancer. One of the facts that impressed me was the despair of the German invaded Denmark, the home of Niels Bohr, the world's leading expert on atomic research. With the purpose of being forced to work for Nazi Germany in order to conclude their nuclear weapons. However, With the help of the British Secret Service he escaped to Sweden before being moved to the United States where he contributed to the project. It is a clear view that they were looking for the destruction of each other without thinking about the innocent people. At that time, uranium-235 was very hard to extract because of the technology. One of the problems was that the useful U-235 and U-238 are isotopes, which means that they are almost identical in their chemical structure. Not just any chemical extraction method could separate them, only mechanical methods could separate them. By the time and with the purpose to speed up the project, an enrichment plant was constructed at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Harold Urey and his colleagues designed an extraction system that worked with the principle of gaseous diffusion, and Ernest Lawrence could contribute with a process that involved magnetic separation of the two isotopes. Then, a gas centrifuge was used to separate the U-235 from the U-238. This Uranium was then transported to Los Alamos, New Mexico as part of the project. After getting all the factors together, Finally, in 1945 in a dessert in New Mexico was the worlds first nuclear test. Trinity, was a test bomb and it was the key to open the Atomic Age. The Trinity test successfully led to the creation of two more atomic bombs that would be used in War World II. The mushroom cloud from the Trinity test. The decision to drop the atomic bomb was not a group decision, it was president Harry S. Truman’s decision. Even when the Army felt strongly that only an invasion and occupation by troops would secure complete victory. No one knew exactly how the Japanese leaders would respond to an atomic bomb. The atomic bomb was seen as a potential war weapon and it was used, but left no one alive that truly comprehended its horrifying power. On August 6 of 1945 the American B-29 bomber known as the Enola Gay released the first atomic bomb used in warfare . The atomic bomb was code named Little Boy and it was a bomb of 9,700 pounds that was detonated in Hiroshima, Japan. "Little Boy's" explosion was catastrophic and the cause of approximately 70 thousand instantaneous deaths and 48000 buildings destroyed . With a total vaporization from the blast measured one half a mile in diameter and a total destruction of one mile in diameter and serious damages extended as far as three miles in diameter. Name: Little Boy Type: Uranium gun-type fission Weight: 9,700lb (4400 kg) Length: 10 ft, 6 in (3.2m) Diameter: 29 in (0.737m) Explosive Yield: 15,000 tons of TNT Three days later, A B-29 bomber named "Bock's Car" dropped another atomic bomb code named Fat Man. The explosion over Nagasaki was more powerful but the terrain and layout of the city resulted in fewer deaths. 40,000 instantaneous deaths and 45,000 more would die later because the burns and radiation. The initial explosion of an atomic bomb is devastating. However, its destructive power does not stop there. The atomic bomb creates another hazard as well. The rain that follows an atomic bomb is heavily contaminated with radioactive particles, and many survivors of the initial blast eventually died due to radiation poison. Survivors that did not die, suffured severe burns, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, diarrhea, and hair loss. Other effects are still being discovered to date. Leukemia is among the greatest of afflictions that are passed on to the offspring of survivors. With the pass of time, we could realize that not all by-products of the atomic bomb have been negative. Scientists have discovered how to manage the power of nuclear energy. Now a days, Nuclear power plants are far more efficient than traditional power plants. And the medical field has also taken advantage of the atomic bomb. The long-term result of the Manhattan Project was the Cold War, which while financially and emotionally devastating for the two countries involved, led to the MAD condition. This condition of mutually assured destruction actually gives countries reason not to use their nuclear capabilities, since they will only be recipients of the same devastation that they cause. Bibliography: 1. http://nhs.needham.k12.ma.us//cur/Baker_00/03/baker-es-mk-03-/manhattan.htm 2. · Bracchini, Miguel. The History and Ethics Behind the Manhattan Project. April 30, 1997. 3. www.me.utexas.edu/~uer/manhattan/index.html (11/14/02) 4. www.atomicarchive.com ( 02/18/2010) 5. http://www.century-of-flight.net/Aviation%20history/WW2/atom%20bomb.htm (03/02/2010) 6. Delgado, James. Nuclear Dawn, September 2009.