The Manhattan Project
On December 6, 1941 the United States allied with Canada, and the United Kingdom to begin the Manhattan Project, which was to create the
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first atomic bomb. The project was headed by the Manhattan Corps of Engineers, while the scientific research was headed by physicist Robert Oppenheimer. There was a total of 175,000 people working on the Manhattan project but only a small group of people knew the secret ambition behind the project. The scientific research for the Manhattan Project took place in Los Alamos, New Mexico; and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Edward Teller was a member of the Theoretical Physics division in Oak Ridge Tennessee. Picture taken from: www.images.google.com
The most difficult part in creating the first atomic bomb was the fact that it was extremely difficult to get enough Uranium 235. Uranium 235 is needed to produce a set of fission reactions that will result in an atomic bomb. A fission reaction is when a heavy nucleus in an atom breaks into two parts. The mass of these two parts combined is less original mass of the atom before it split apart. The mass that is lost from splitting the atom creates an enormous amount of kinetic energy. Each time an atom is split apart another neutron is released, then that neutron can hit another nucleus, causing another fissioning process to occur. This process creates large bursts of energy in a short amount of time, which can result in an explosion.
There are two types of uranium that are found on the earth; they are uranium 235 and uranium 238. Of the uranium that is found within the earth, 99.3% of it is uranium 238 and .07% of it is uranium 235. Uranium 238 is not a useful element in making a nuclear bomb, but uranium 235 makes bomb explosions possible. The scientists working on constructing the first atomic bomb tried to enrich Uranium 235 so that it would have the same properties of Uranium 238. The Manhattan project was successful and three bombs were made. Two of these nuclear bombs used plutonium 239 and the third bomb used uranium 235. Within the fission process a chain reaction is needed to cause an explosion. For this to happen, 5 kilograms of plutonium 239 are needed and 15 kilograms of uranium 235 are needed. One of these successful bombs was tested in New Mexico in the year 1945; one was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan; and one was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. The explosions that were caused by these two bombs helped the United States to not only win but also to end WWII. The United States had succeeded in producing the first three atomic bombs.
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