Science Behind the tom

Bomb
he immense destructive power of tomic wepons derives from sudden relese of energy
produced by splitting the nuclei of the fissile elements mking up the bombs' core. The U.S.
developed two types of tomic bombs during the Second World Wr. The first, Little Boy,
ws gun-type wepon with urniumcore. Little Boy ws dropped on Hiroshim. The
second wepon, dropped on Ngski, ws clled Ft Mnnd ws n implosion-type
device with plutonium core.

Fission
The isotopes urnium-235 nd plutonium-239 were selected by the tomic scientists
becuse they redily undergo fission. Fission occurs when neutron strikes the nucleus of
either isotope, splitting the nucleus into frgments nd relesing tremendous mount of
energy. The fission process becomes self-sustining s neutrons produced by the splitting
of tom strike nerby nuclei nd produce more fission. This is known s chin rection
nd is wht cuses n tomic explosion.
When urnium-235 tom bsorbs neutron nd fissions into two new toms, it releses
three new neutrons nd some binding energy. Two neutrons do not continue the rection
becuse they re lost or bsorbed by urnium-238 tom. However, one neutron does
collide with n tom of urnium-235, which then fissions nd releses two neutrons nd
some binding energy. Both of those neutrons collide with urnium-235 toms, ech of
which fission nd relese between one nd three neutrons, nd so on. This cuses
nucler chin rection. For more on this topic, see Nucler Fission.

Criticlity
In order to detonte n tomic wepon, you need criticl mss of fissionble mteril.
This mens you need enough U-235 or Pu-239 to ensure tht neutrons relesed by fission

will strike nother nucleus, thus producing chin rection. The more fissionble mteril
you hve, the greter the odds tht such n event will occur. Criticl mss is defined s
the mount of mteril t which neutron produced by fission process will, on verge,
crete nother fission event.

The Difference Between the Bombs

Little Boy nd Ft Mn utilized different elements nd completely seprte methods of
construction in order to function s nucler wepons. Little Boy detonted due to fission
chin rection involving the isotope U-235 of urnium, while Ft Mn used plutoniums Pu239 form.

LITTLE BOY

Little Boy ws powered by the urnium isotope U-235 in process tht didnt come
esily to the mny Mnhttn Project scientists working on the urnium extrction nd
enrichment process. Most urnium found nturlly in the world exists s urnium-238,
leving only 0.7% of nturlly existing urnium s the U-235 isotope. When neutron
bombrds U-238, the isotope often cptures the neutron to become U-239, filing to fission,
nd thus filing to instigte chin rection tht would detonte bomb. The first
chllenge of the project ws thus to determine the most efficient wy to seprte nd purify
urnium-235 from the overly-bundnt urnium-238 - stndrd methods of seprtion
could not be used due to the strong chemicl similrity between the two isotopes. In order
to void wsting time on one new method tht could lter prove insufficient to produce
enough U-235 to llow the tomic bomb to rech criticl mss, Generl Leslie Groves
consulted with led scientists of the project nd greed to investigte simultneously four

seprte methods of seprting nd purifying the urnium-235: gseous diffusion,

centrifuge, electromgnetic seprtion nd liquid therml diffusion.
Once enough U-235 ws obtined to power the bomb, Little Boy ws constructed using
gun-type design tht fired one mount of U-235 t nother to combine the two msses.
This combintion creted criticl mss tht set off fission chin rection to eventully
detonte the bomb. The two msses of U-235 hd to combine with one nother quickly
enough to void the spontneous fission of the toms, which would cuse the bomb to
fizzle, nd thus fil to explode.

FT MN

Powered by plutonium, Ft Mn could not use the sme gun-type design tht llowed
Little Boy to explode effectively - the form of plutonium collected from the nucler rectors
t Hnford, W for the bomb would not llow for this strtegy. The Hnford plutonium
emerged from the rectors less pure thn the initil plutonium extrcted from Ernest O.
Lwrences Berkeley Lb, insted contining trces of isotope plutonium-240, s opposed
to the desired plutonium-239. Plutonium-240s higher fission rte would cuse the toms to
undergo spontneous fission before the gun-type design could bring two msses of
plutonium together, which would lower the energy involved in the ctul detontion of the
bomb.
Thus, new design ws required. Physicist Seth Neddermeyer t Los lmos constructed
design for the plutonium bomb tht used conventionl explosives round centrl
plutonium mss to quickly squeeze nd consolidte the plutonium, incresing the pressure
nd density of the substnce. n incresed density llowed the plutonium to rech its
criticl mss, firing neutrons nd llowing the fission chin rection to proceed. To
detonte the bomb, the explosives were ignited, relesing shock wve tht compressed
the inner plutonium nd led to its explosion.
tomic Glossry
tom: building blocks of mtter; mde up of smll, dense nucleus
surrounded by cloud of electrons (negtively-chrged prticles)
Nucleus: mkes up the center of the tom; consists of number of
positively-chrged protons nd neutrl (no chrge) neutrons. n
tom is clssified by the number of protons nd neutrons in its
nucleus. The number of protons determines which chemicl element
the tom is (e.g. urnium), nd the number of neutrons determines
which isotope of tht element the tom is (e.g. urnium-235).
Isotope: Isotopes of n element possess the sme number of
protons in their nuclei but hve different numbers of neutrons.
Fission: the process by which n tom's nucleus is split into smller
prticles; results in the relese of neutrons nd lots of energy.
E=mc2: Eqution mde fmous by lbert Einstein. Explins how
tiny mount of mtter contins tremendous mount of energy.