The nuclear bomb is one of the most destructive pieces of technology that the human race has created. There are two types of nuclear weapons: the fission bomb and the fusion bomb. The fission bomb is a weapon that gets there energy from a fission reaction. This type of bomb generates energy equivalent to 20,000 tons of TNT. These bombs are also called atomic bombs, and they are the same type of bomb that the US used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The second nuclear weapon type, the fusion bomb, is a weapon that produces its energy through fusion reactions. This type of weapon can generate energy equivalent to 1.2 million tons of TNT. This bomb is also called a hydrogen bomb. Any nuclear weapon, whether it is a hydrogen bomb or an atomic bomb, is considered a weapon of mass destruction. The road to the nuclear bomb started in the 1930s.
The race to learn more about nuclear power and nuclear energy started in 1932 when Ernest Rutherford discovered that when protons split lithium atoms, great amounts of energy were released into the atmosphere. Also in 1932, James Chadwick discovered the neutron, which helps with nuclear experimentation because of its lack of an electric charge. Further experimentation by Enrico Fermi focused on bombarding uranium with neutrons, which is called fission. Many scientists realized that if fission reactions released additional neutrons, a nuclear chain reaction could occur. Once this theory was confirmed, countries started creating their own nuclear research programs to create nuclear weapons, including the Manhattan Project. The Manhattan Project accomplished the first nuclear bomb test on July 16, 1945, where they tested a fission bomb. A few months later the US used two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Shortly after the bombing of Nagasaki, the US released a report about the Manhattan Project and what they did. The USSR used this report as a blueprint for their own nuclear weapon. Lavrenty Beria was the leader of the soviet program, and he created two different teams to replicate the bomb that the US had created without telling either team of the other. He did this because he was a very distrusting man, and he wanted to make sure they were on track and creating the bomb correctly. Beria even turned down more efficient bomb designs because they were not like the bomb the US created. On August 29, 1949, the USSR tested their first fission bomb. That day marked the start of the race to build a better and stronger nuclear bomb, the fusion bomb. The next nuclear bomb type that was to be built was the fusion bomb. The idea for the fusion bomb started at a conference in 1942. Many people thought of the fission bomb as an easy thing to build and thought they would have no problems with it. Edward Teller was the scientist who suggested the idea to build a fusion reaction bomb, but because the fission bomb took much longer to perfect than most people thought, he was the only one to continue working on it. After the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, many people were opposed to building a more powerful bomb because of technical and moral reasons. They did not want to build the bomb because it would take a lot of time and money, and many scientists were skeptical of the bomb working. They also did not want to create it because of how deadly the weapon would be. If created, the bomb could only be used for places with a huge population therefor making the bomb a weapon for genocide. Teller argued that not creating the weapon would be dangerous because the Soviet Union will create one anyway, leaving the US defenseless. After the nuclear fission test by the USSR in 1949, Truman decided that the US should work on a hydrogen bomb. On January 31, 1950, Truman announced a program to develop a fusion bomb. Even though Truman established a program, the idea for the bomb still seemed unworkable. That all changed when Stanislaw Ulam showed that the fission bomb and the fusion fuel could be in separate parts of the bomb, making a fusion bomb possible. The first fusion bomb test, codenamed “Mike” took place on November 1, 1952, on Elugelab Island. The weapon used deuterium as fusion fuel and a large fission weapon as the trigger. The explosion was huge, completely destroying the island and releasing energy equivalent to 10.4 megatons of TNT. Although this bomb was not practical, being to big to fit in even the largest planes. On March 1, 1954, the US detonated its first practical fusion bomb generating energy equivalent to 15 megatons of TNT. The radiological fallout was a disaster. 28 Americans were infected with radiation poisoning and many fish that were eaten were also infected with radiation poisoning. This test scared people because it was the first time that world-wide annihilation was actually possible. Nuclear weapons are the most dangerous pieces of technology that we have. The fission bomb, which was used against Hiroshima and Nagasaki could have been contained. The fission bomb was destructive but not world ending. The fusion bomb, however, is the most dangerous weapon on the face of the planet. A few of these weapons in the wrong hands could destroy the planet. This bomb could wipeout the human race.
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