Nuclear Weapons

By: Tooba QureshiUzma Saleem Katrina Tuazon

Michelle HungateSonya Ali

Nuclear Weapon• In 1945 when the first nuclear bomb was exploded by the

Manhattan Project team in the US, the idea of nuclear weapons have spread throughout the globe.

• The US has about 7,000 warheads

• Soviet Union have approximately 6,000. (There are enough nuclear weapons on earth to destroy all civilization as we know it.)

• The Manhattan project cost $2 billion, spending power and required combined efforts of scientists.

Sonya Ali

Nuclear Weapon cont.

Sonya Ali

•When first developed nuclear weapons were completely strategic weapons.( they were not designed to destroy enemy weaponry, but designed to destroy entire cities.

•Now there are small nuclear weapons

•They can be dropped from airplanes

•Fired from an artillery gun

•Attached to various types of rockets

How does an atomic bomb work?

• Fission• Neutrons strike

nucleus• Uranium 235• By-products• 90% fissionable

material

Michelle Hungate

Elements• Uranium 235 and

Plutonium 239• Unstable elements• Elements are heavy

elements, or contain atomic numbers, capable of fission

• U-235 exists in little amounts, (7 out of 1000 atoms are U-235)

Katrina Tuazon

Uranium 235

Plutonium 239

What is used to make an atomic bomb?

• Uranium 235 or Plutonium 239

• Trinitrotoluene (TNT)

Michelle Hungate

Where does the energy from an atomic bomb come from?

• Fission reaction

• Chain reactions

• Neutrons

Michelle Hungate

The First Atomic Bombs

• The United States Government starts the Manhattan Project

• A massive enrichment laboratory/plant constructed at Oak Ridge, Tennessee in order to produce enriched uranium

• Entire concept behind atomic fission put to test

• From 1939-1945 more than $2 billion and intense scientific and engineering work used to create atomic bomb

• On July 16, 1945 the bomb was tested. “The Gadget”

Uzma Saleem

»First Atomic Bomb

If the radiance of a thousand sunsWere to burst at once into the sky

That would be like the splendor of the Mighty one...

I am become Death,The shatterer of Worlds

"...now I am become Death [Shiva], the destroyer of worlds..."

Physicist Robert Oppenheimer"No beast is more savage

than man,when possessed

with power answerable to

his rage."-Plutarch Cicero

"And just at that instance there rose from the bowels of the earth a light not of this world, the light of many suns in one."

-William Lawrence, New York Times, September 26, 1945

Uzma Saleem

The Dawn of the Atomic age

Hydrogen and Atomic Bombs

• Hydrogen bomb functions by fusion of hydrogen isotopes to form helium and producing energy.

• In an atomic bomb, heavy elements are split into lighter elements that have a smaller mass than the original atoms and also releasing energy. This process is called fission.

Katrina Tuazon

A-bombH- bomb

Fusion• The joining of two light elements (elements with

low atomic numbers) into a heavier element and releasing energy.

• Elements capable of fusion are light elements such as hydrogen.

• The sun’s core has a density and temperature high enough that nuclear fusion can take place.

• Hydrogen atoms are fused together and for helium and release energy in the form of gamma rays from the sun.

Katrina Tuazon

Countries Possessing Nuclear Arms

Soviet Union- 1949

United Kingdom- 1952

France- 1960

China- 1964

Uzma Saleem

Aftermath of a Nuclear War• weapon has discharged X-ray energy, thermal radiation,

an atmospheric blast, and the subsequent movement of long-term radiation, which is carried in dust from the bomb and residue from any crater.

• There is a rise in temperature of several million degrees.

• Effects rely on how and what nuclear weapon was used. The weather is also a factor.

• Buildings suffer damage from explosion, fire and thermal radiation. People are harmed by collapsing of buildings and radiation.

Tooba Qureshi

A Radiological Dirty Bomb

• A type of radiological dispersal device

• A combination of a normal explosive and radioactive material

• Most dirty bombs would not discharge enough radiation to cause death or severe illness.

Tooba Qureshi

Threat to the General Public

• Threat depends on amount and form of radiation spread

• Factors that determine effects would be: a) Amount of radiation absorbed by the body. b) Form of radiation

c) Distance of radiation from the person. d) Means of contact

e) Total time exposed.

• The higher the radiation dose, the higher risk of injury.

Tooba Qureshi

• Although talented people, physics, chemistry, and engineering is essential to make a successful Nuclear weapon; there is no basic research required to construct a nuclear weapon.

• The Nuclear weapons project that begun in 1996 does not require the brilliant scientist who were needed for the Manhattan Project.

• Nuclear weapons cannot be uninvented.

Sonya Ali

Nuclear Weapon

Bibliography• Clyde , John. "Nuclear Warfare." Nuclear Physics: Past, Present, and Future. 28 Oct

1996. 7 Nov 2007 <http://library.thinkquest.org/3471/index.html>.

• "Fact Sheet on Dirty Bombs." U.S. NRC. 22 Feb 2007. 7 Nov 2007 <http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/dirty-bombs.html>.

• “Splitting the Atom”. Nettrekker. Online Forum. 7 Nov. 2007. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/forum/november96/nuclear.html

• Lace, William. The Atom Bomb. San Diego, California: Lucent Books, Inc., 2002.

• McGrath, Kimberly A. World of Physics. Detroit: Gale Group, 1995. • Roy L. Nersesian. Energy for the 21st Century. 2007. M.E. Sharpe, Inc.

• Introduction." Federation of American Scientist. 21 Oct. 1998. Webmaster. 12 Nov.

2007 <http://www.fas.org/nuke/intro/nuke/intro.htm>. • http://www.wslfweb.org/docs/SteveYounger.pdf

Bibliography (Con’t.)

• "Key Nuclear Explosive Materials." Institute For Science and International Security. 2001. 12 Nov 2007 <http://www.isis-online.org/publications/fmct/primer/Section_I.html>.

• "Hydrogen Bomb." The Columbia Encyclopedia. 2007. 12 Nov 2007 <http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-hydrogn-bm.html>.

• "The Neutron Bomb." Atomic Archive. 2006. 12 Nov 2007 <http://www.atomicarchive.com/Fusion/Fusion1.shtml>.

• "The Solar Core." Windows to the Universe. 2006. 12 Nov 2007 <http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/sun/Solar_interior/Sun_layers/Core/core.html&cdp=/windows3&edu=high>.

Picture Citation • http://www.cbv.ns.ca/MCHS/manyfacesofterrorism/The%20Future/NuclearWeapons/n

uclear1.jpg

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/patmns/56474544/

• http://static.hcrhs.k12.nj.us/images/mcjournalism/hydrogenbomb.jpg

• http://www.vnn.vn/dataimages/original/images144316_uranium-235.jpg

• http://www.nti.org/h_learnmore/radtutorial/images/plutonium.gif

• Radiological Dispersal Devices (RDDs).' Radiaton Event Medical Managment . 09 Oct 2007. US Department of Health & Human Services. 12 Nov 2007 <http://www.remm.nlm.gov/rdd.htm#about>.

• http://www.thevintageplayhouse.com/image/atomicbomb/abomb.jpg

 

• http://www.kingofbombs.com/pictures/nuclear-bomb-explosion.jpg

 • http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/

B83_nuclear_bomb_trainer.jpg/800px-B83_nuclear_bomb_trainer.jpg