The Hiroshima bomb or little boy’ used Uranium- 235 as the fuel for the explosion. The Nagasaki bomb, nicknamed Fat man, used Plutonium-239.
Nagasaki implosion type bomb:
The Plutonium is placed around the middle of the bomb, and a source emitting neutrons is set off. The neutrons fission the plutonium and cause a super critical explosion. Conventional explosives were added to make the bomb more powerful.
Hiroshima gun-type bomb:
Two separate parts filled with uranium atoms- one at the front of the bomb, and one at the back on a rack. A detonator is used to fire the uranium at the back of the bomb into the uranium at the front of the bomb. Once the two pieces of uranium are brought together, the initiator introduces a burst of neutrons and the chain reaction begins, continuing until the energy released becomes so great that the bomb simply blows itself apart.
The dropping of these two bombs and the Manhattan project, caused science to leap into the future of nuclear warfare. The effect can be seen clearly during the cold war, where both America and Russia were very close to declaring and all out nuclear war. Furthermore, the fact that all the weapons that have been developed by man have been used, suggests a very real possibility that a nuclear war will occur in the future. As a result millions of people will be killed and many more affected by the radiation poisoning. Nuclear war may be the death of our planet.
I believe that the Manhattan project was vital. If the Nazis had developed the bomb first, I would be writing this text in German and there would have been no question that millions would have died as a consequence of the Nazis dropping the bomb. For instance if 140,000 people were killed by two bombs being released imagine how many people would have died if 50 or more bombs would have been dropped.
The British government have been building nuclear bombs for the past 20+ years. This increases science and technology greatly, but it does not benefit the world globally. Nuclear weapons testing adds to the background radiation that is present all the time and too much radiation can lead to health risks. It also encourages other countries to build nuclear weapons in order to protect themselves and in doing so adds to the global tension and unrest. The amount of money that is being spent on nuclear weapons is colossal and it could easily be used to put an end to world poverty. If the British Government want to help they should lay down their weapons and try to persuade other countries to do so aswell. After all if one nuclear strike was ordered on America, one hundred nuclear strikes will be ordered in retaliation and more innocent lives would be lost.