Manhattan Project Whether Due to Term Paper

A uranium-fueled nuclear weapon nicknamed Little Boy exploded over Hiroshima only three weeks after the Trinity test. A uranium-fueled nuclear weapon had not even been tested on the Trinity site. It was the Plutonium-fueled imploding bomb that most concerned and excited Manhattan Project scientists. The potential for destruction and sheer military might became starkly visible on July 16, 1945. Fat Man, a bomb modeled after the one imploded at Trinity, imploded at Nagasaki on August 9 of that year, forcing the Japanese surrender. The Second World War came to an end, but the Cold War would usher in a new era of intense fear.

The White Sands Missile Range remains "one of the most sophisticated test facilities in the world," ("Trinity Site Pamphlet"). Anti-proliferation treaties reflect the understanding that nuclear weapons remain a major threat to world peace. With hardly any evidence and only one plutonium test at Trinity, the United States government rather foolishly launched nuclear weapons to target Japan.The Department of Energy lists some of the immediate repercussions of the bombs: "One boy was blown through the windows of his house and across the street as the house collapsed behind him. Within minutes 9 out of 10 people half a mile or less from ground zero were dead."

References

Chapter 3: "Radiation Protection at Project Trinity." Retireved April 23, 2007 at http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/hst/northamerican/ProjectTrinity/chap3.html

The Manhattan Project." Retrieved April 23, 2007 at http://gk12.rice.edu/trs/science/Atom/man.htm#out

Trinity Site Pamphlet." White Sands Missile Range. Retrieved April 23, 2007 at http://www.wsmr.army.mil/pao/TrinitySite/trinph.htm

United States Department of Energy. "The Manhattan Project." Retrived April 23, 2007 at http://www.mbe.doe.gov/me70/manhattan/index.htm

Walton, Andy. "The First 'Ground Zero.'" CNN Interactive. Retrieved April 23, 2007 at http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/experience/the.bomb/route/03.trinity.....