War Weapons
Atomic Bomb
The atomic bomb was the first nuclear weapon that was used in combat. It was used to bomb the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bombs used nuclear materials instead of conventional explosives to generate the explosion.
Fat Man
Fat Man was the code name for the type of atomic bomb that was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. This bomb was a Mark III nuclear bomb. It gained the name "Fat Man" due to its round shape and how wide it was. Only four Mark III bombs were ever detonated, one in New Mexico and two in Bikini Atoll for nuclear tests, and the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. This bomb contained a plutonium core. The full power of the Mark III bomb was not demonstrated at Nagasaki because the bomb missed its target.
|
Fat man was built like a normal bomb, and is what most people would think of when they think of an atomic bomb. As shown in the diagram above, Fat man had layers of explosive plutonium. The inner layer detonated, which caused the outer layers to explode, creating a large shock wave that would devastate its surroundings
|
Little Boy
Little Boy was the code name for the atomic bomb that was detonated over the city of Hiroshima. This bomb contained a uranium core and was relatively small, at least compared to Fat Man. Despite its smaller size, Little Boy was able to create a large explosion that could be seen from space and devastated most of Hiroshima.
|
Being a long cylinder, Little boy looked quite unlike any of the other atomic bombs that were built and tested. Little boy was built like a gun, with a firing mechanism that fired a uranium bullet at a uranium explosive. The gun was triggered by three different readers that detected the height of the bomb and detonated it at the right time to cause maximum damage.
|
Effects
Due to the bomb's droppings, we now know how much destruction can be caused by these bombs. We also know that these bombs can level towns, melt metal and skin. If a person were to be close to the blast, their coins would have melted to their skin and clothing. We also learned about bone marrow death. We also learned about gastrointestinal death and central nervous system death. Radiation can also be good. We learned that it can reduce cancer. The bomb though, was a sad creation that lead to many new and unheard of things.
|