Nuclear+Weapons

Nuclear Weapons History The development of the atomic bomb started in 1939 with the Manhattan Project. American Scientists were researching nuclear fission to develop a weapon for the army. Some of the scientists involved in the Manhattan project were Enrico Fermi, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Albert Einstein. On December 2, 1942, in a small lab hidden under the University of chicago, a Nuclear chain reaction was successful, the isotope that reacted was plutonium-239. J. Robert Oppenheimer designed the atomic bomb in an isolated laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico. On July 16, 1945, the first atomic bomb was detonated at the Alomogordo Air Base (which is about 120 miles south of Albuquerque. America decided that they had to drop an atomic bomb on Japan because thet refused to surrender so on August 6, 1945 a B-29 bomber dropped an atomic bomb (little boy) on the city of Hiroshima, 3 days later, another bomb (fat man) was dropped on Nagasaki.  A time lapse of all the nuclear weapons dropped from 1945-1998  Types of bombs

There are two basic types of nuclear weapons, they are made up of fission and fusion and these two types can cause terrible results. The majority of nuclear weapons are fission weapons and either contain U-235 or Pu-239. Fusion bombs are more efficient but are more difficult to control.

Arms Race

The Nuclear Arms race during the Cold War was a race between the United States and the Soviet Union, they were racing against each other to see who could develop a nuclear weapon first. This time period was dubbed the Cold War because neither one of the sides had fired a single weapon, and there was no actual fighting and physical contact involved. Mass hysteria was in both countries because they strongly believed that they would be bombed by the enemy.

Disarmament of Nuclear weapons

Nuclear disarmamen t is the process of reducing or eliminating nuclear weapons in a country. Many campaigns have spawned in the United States on getting rid of nuclear weapons.

Steps for Nuclear Disarmament There is a treaty called Non-Proliferation Treaty or (NPT), this treaty is between the United States, United Kingdom, China, France, and the USSR. They are the five Nuclear Weapon states. But India, Israel, and Pakistan has develop nuclear weapons and North Korea has a "nuclear explosive capability" (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty 1). These four states however are not part of the treaty.

Works cited http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/362098/Manhattan-Project

Source: - @http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/disarmament-fora/npt -