The Manhattan Project By Matt Maguire

The Need to Act  In 1939, German scientists discovered how to split an atom of uranium. For those who do not know, uranium is a hard, ductile and radioactive element that reacts violently with cold water. Realizing the impending threat, scientists Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi warned the President of the United States of the threat. President Roosevelt decided to follow the advice of two brightest minds in the nation. This gave birth to one of the most secret teams created by the government, thus far. This group of people was tasked with the defense of the nation by creating powerful weapons. This team was called The Avengers. Wait, no, wrong team. This team was called the Manhattan Project.

A Little About Al  We all know the man who created the equation E=mc 2, Albert Einstein. He is known for being insanely smart as well as having very… unorthodox hair. Albert was a German physicist who fled from Nazi Germany to America in the 1930’s. He won the Nobel Peace Prize for his contribution to physics.  While he wasn’t directly involved in the creation of this bomb, he did facilitate it’s development. He sent multiple letters to the President as well as accomplished American scientists. Once, he wrote to the president telling him about the need of nuclear bomb development due to the fact Germany had already started making strides in nuclear science.

A Little More About Al  Another letter Albert wrote was to a juggernaut in science called Niels Bohr. Albert expressed to him his thoughts on post-war effects this nuclear age could have on the world. He stated that countries will proceed to develop nuclear weapons to defend themselves against other countries with nuclear weapons.

Enrico Fermi-Italian Physicist  Enrico Fermi was born in 1901 in Italy. He graduated college as a physicist and received the Nobel Peace Prize while he was still in Italy for his significant contributions to science, more specifically, his discoveries on radiation. Soon after this, however, he fled to America due to the fact Italy at this time was a fascist nation. While in America he learned how to split an atom of uranium and how to slow down neutrons. He might not have been as well known as Albert, but he contributed significantly to the project with his findings and discoveries.

J. Robert Oppenheimer  Ok, Oppenheimer is a very German last name but surprisingly, he is the only scientist of the three mentioned to be born in the U S of A. His parents were immigrants from Germany and throughout his life Robert was devoted to science. He graduated Harvard and went on to become a physics professor at the University of California. He received his PhD at the young age of 22. Once World War II broke out, Openheimer was asked to work on neutron calculations for bombs. He was appointed as director of the Manhattan Project by General Leslie Groves. He was now in charge of 3,000 of the world’s brightest minds across branches of chemistry, physics and engineering. He dealt with all the problems, mathematically and mechanically of developing a bomb of this magnitude.

Oppenheimer deserves a picture or two too.  Oppenheimer was called “The Father of the Atomic Bomb” for being the head of the entire development. The first test of the Atomic bomb was dubbed the trinity test. This test was performed in Los Alamos, New Mexico. The bomb did exactly what the scientists hoped it would do. Yes, blew up, but it did not detonate early and no accidents occurred.

So, Where is the Chemistry In All This?  This is a chemistry project after all, so where is all the chemistry in this? Well the bomb is based off of a uranium isotope, Uranium-238 or a plutonium isotope, Plutonium The chemistry in all of this is inside the actual bomb, crazy right? In all seriousness the isotope of plutonium or uranium is surrounding a deposit of tritium and surrounding the uranium/plutonium is a layer of beryllium and finally a layer of high explosives waiting to be detonated.

So How Does it All Work?  Once the bomb is primed and ready to blow, the high explosives are armed. When triggered, the high explosives do not allow any atomic particles to pass through anything. The isotopes of either element decay rapidly, sending atomic particles, neutrons, out of the atomic nucleus. Once triggered, the explosives detonate, sending all the fleeing particles back into the nucleus of the decaying element. The atom then splits, and causes a chain reaction of splitting atoms thus sending out radioactive substance throughout ground zero.

Before and After

A Brief History Lesson  On August 6 th 1945, Little Boy was dropped on Hiroshima, three days later Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki. The bombing at Hiroshima had an estimated 150,000 casualties while Nagasaki had an estimated 75,000 casualties. The first atomic bomb tested was called Gadget, which was detonated at the Trinity testing site in Los Alamos, New Mexico. There was also a fourth bomb ready to be dropped, but Japan proceeded to surrender on September 2 nd of that year, due to its Navy being rendered incapable of defending the nation.

Fun Facts About Radioactive Bombs  Did you know that the people attending the Trinity testing of Gadget did not know exactly what would happen? They believed that the bomb would light the atmosphere on fire!  The bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki did not touch the ground when detonated, due to the fact more area needed to be covered.  A man survived both atomic bomb detonations. He probably did not have a very fun life after that...  A man who survived the Hiroshima bombing went on to win the Boston Marathon in Radioactive superpowers.  Fat Man was not supposed to drop on Nagasaki, its actual target was Kokura.

A Few More Facts With Just as Much Fun  A month later after the Hiroshima bombing, a typhoon hit the city killing another 2,000 people. Talk about tough luck...  In 1962, the United States tested a hydrogen bomb in space that was 100 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bombing.

There is a Silver Lining  The atomic bombs might have caused mass destruction in two cities, but they did usher-in the nuclear age.  All of the atomic research could be used to create nuclear energy to power ships, submarines or cities.  Radiation could also be used to cure, or treat certain diseases like cancer.

Links to Videos You Should Watch if You’re Cramming  How atomic bombs work, I do not endorse making one  The testing of the Trinity Bomb. Watch this if you like seeing big explosions.  If you don’t have time to read the entire power point, here is the project in around 10 minutes

Credit to my Sources  US History-  Atomic Archive-  Bio.-  Fact Slides-  Doug-long-

Catalog Entry  If this power point were to be put on the Internet, I would like it to be captioned by the following: The Manhattan Project was a very crucial time in the world, where countries were struggling to compete with one another while waging war. This PowerPoint should more than suffice in teaching the reader at least one new thing they did not know before and provide information on multiple fronts of what happened and how it happened.