Atomic Bomb

The use of the atomic bombs on Japan was necessary for the revenge of the Americans. These bombs took years to make due to a problematic equation. The impact of the bombs killed hundreds of thousands of people and the radiation is still killing people today. People today still wonder why the bombs were dropped. If these bombs weren’t dropped on the Japanese the history of the world would have been changed forever.

The Atomic bomb took 6 years to develop (1939-1945) for scientists to work on a equation to make the U-235 into a bomb. The most complicated process in this was trying to produce enough uranium to sustain a chain reaction. The bombs used on the cities cost about $2 billion to develop, this also making the U.S. wanting to use them against Japan. “Hiroshima was a major military target and we have spent 2 billion dollars on the greatest scientific gamble in history- and won.” (3) The bomb dropped on Hiroshima weighted 4.5 tons and the bomb used on Nagasaki weighted 10 kilotons. On July 16, 1945, the first ever atomic bomb was tested in the Jamez Mountains in Northern New Mexico, code named “Gadget.” The single weapon ultimately dropped on Hiroshima, nicknamed “Little Boy,” produced the amount of approximately twenty-

thousand tons of TNT, which is roughly seven times greater than all of the bombs dropped by all the allies on all of Germany in 1942.

The first Japanese City bomb was Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. An American

B-29 bomber, named Enola Gay, flown by the pilot Paul W. Tibbets, dropped the “Little Boy” uranium atomic bomb. Three days later a second bomb named ”Fat Boy,” made of plutonium was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. After being released, it took approximately one minute for Little Boy to reach the point of explosion, which was about 2,000 feet.

The impact of the bombs on the cities and people was massive. Black rain containing large amounts of nuclear fallout fell as much as 30km from the original blast site. A mushroom cloud rose to twenty thousand feet in the air, and sixty percent of the city was destroyed. The shock wave and its reverse effect reached speeds close to those of the speed of sound. The wind generated by the bombs destroyed most of the houses and buildings within a 1.5 mile radius. Within the four square miles destroyed by the bomb in Hiroshima, 48,000 buildings out of a total of 76,000 were completely demolished. The raging fires, lasting several days after the bombing destroyed much more. A mile from the explosion center, where the wind velocity was 190 miles per hour and the pressure was 1,180 pounds per square feet, all brick buildings were completely destroyed. The people who entered the area within a half-mile radius from explosion center in the first 100 hours after the explosion were also affected by the remaining radiation on the ground. “It was a kind of hell on earth, and those who died instantly were among the more fortunate. Thousands died- vaporized, crushed or burned. But

there were tens of thousands more who were still alive and those who could move began to mill around the city, seeking relief from shock, fire, and pain. Thousands threw themselves into the Ota River, which would be awash with corpses by the end of the day.” (32) By 1946 the 2 bombs caused deaths of as many as 240,000 people and the death tolls for 1950 were at 340,000 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. If the U.S. had chosen not to use the atomic bomb on Japan there death rate would have been lower, but the U.S.’s death rate would be close to the millions. This making the use of the atomic bombs a good idea in our sense.

The droppings of the bombs don’t have an exact reasoning. On August 6,1945 atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These two bombs quickly made the Japanese surrender and ended the involvement of Americans in World War II. The U.S. wanted to demonstrate to the Soviets the awesome power that they would be dealing with once the war was over. Nagasaki, a ship building city was of no military significance, and mainly consisted of civilians. “Part of being responsible for our actions is knowing what our choices are and living with our decisions. Choosing to hit the snooze alarm can send shock waves through the rest of your life.” (11). If the U.S. had demonstrated the A-bomb to Japan, history and warfare may have changed and been affected tremendously. The Americans believed Japan would never surrender. If the bomb had not been dropped thousands of Americans lives could have been lost in an invasion of Japan. Pressure to drop the bombs came from these three major categories: military, domestic, and diplomatic. As in most military conflicts, there was and effort to establish the Americans as being superior to the Japanese. Nagasaki

was chosen as a target because it was a major naval and shipbuilding center. At the time of the bombing, the Nagasaki shipyards were the largest privately owned shipyards in Japan. Although the U.S. argued that there were a limited number of bombs available, and that it would be a waste of money, people thought they still should have demonstrated what the A-bomb would in fact do to Japan. Truman and others believed the invasion of the Japanese mainland would be extremely costly, and that making the bomb as a military weapon whose use was fully condoned and never questioned. “At no time, from 1941 to 1945, did I ever hear it suggested by the President, or any other responsible member of the government, that atomic energy should not be used in the war.” (23) Prior to the dropping of the A-bomb on Hiroshima, Truman had somewhat of an idea that Japan was on the verge of surrendering. On August 14, 1945 the Japanese surrendered unconditionally and the war in Asia ended.

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