Analysis Of The Atomic Bomb

Analysis of the Atomic Bomb

Ever since the dawn of time man has found new ways of killing

each other. The most destructive way of killing people known to man

would have to be the atomic bomb. The reason why the atomic bomb is so

destructive is that when it is detonated, it has more than one effect.

The effects of the atomic bomb are so great that Nikita Khrushchev

said that the survivors would envy the dead (International Physicians

for the Prevention of Nuclear War, 1982). These devastating physical

effects come from the atomic bomb’s blast, the atomic bomb’s thermal

radiation, and the atomic bomb’s nuclear radiation.

An atomic bomb is any weapon that gets its destructive power

from an atom. This power comes when the matter inside of the atoms is

transformed into energy. The process by which this is done is known

as fission. The only two atoms suitable for fissioning are the

uranium isotope U-235 and the plutonium isotope Pu-239 (Outlaw

Labs). Fission occurs when a neutron, a subatomic particle with no

electrical charge, strikes the nucleus of one of these isotopes and

causes it to split apart. When the nucleus is split, a large amount

of energy is produced, and more free neutrons are also released.

These neutrons then in turn strike other atoms, which causes more

energy to be released. If this process is repeated, a self-sustaining

chain reaction will occur, and i...

Analysis Of The Atomic Bomb

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