It was July 16, 1945, the day the first nuclear weapon was detonated on a New Mexico test site. J. Robert Oppenheimer watches from a distance as his creation is finally unleashed upon the world. As he saw the mushroom cloud form in the air, the man uttered the now famous quote, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
Oppenhiemer’s work in the Manhattan Project, which created the first nuclear weapon, solidified his title as the “father of the atomic bomb.” Over the years, much has been said about the effects and impacts of nuclear weapons, yet many don’t understand the processes that lead up to such immense displays of power.
The basic principle of nuclear weapons is about harnessing the forces that hold the nucleus of an atom by using the energy released when the particles of a nucleus are either split or merged. This process is known as nuclear fission and nuclear fusion, respectively.
Nuclear fission occurs when an atom is split into 2 smaller atoms by a colliding neutron. The atoms that are struck are mainly either isotopes of uranium or plutonium. These isotopes are shot at more targets made of the same isotope, which on collision creates a fission chain. An example of this is the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with forces released being equivalent to 15,000 and 21,000 tons of TNT for each bomb.
Nuclear fusion is when two atoms, usually hydrogen or hydrogen isotopes, are fused to create a larger one. Due to the higher temperatures required for it to take place, it is referred to as a thermonuclear explosion. Most nuclear weapons incorporate both nuclear fusion and nuclear fission, as the energy released is highly efficient for both energy production and destructive power.
The fuel that activates such robust processes as fission and fusion in a nuclear weapon are uranium 235 and plutonium 239, which act as the combustion that kick-starts these reactions. This results in a massive explosion almost as hot as the sun and the formation of huge mushroom clouds.
The use of nuclear weapons has become a controversial topic in recent times, as their very existence threatens the whole world as we know it. However, as the father of the atomic bomb realized, “It is perfectly obvious that the whole world is going to hell. The only possible chance that it might not is that we do not attempt to prevent it from doing so.”
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