1. Nuclear Weapons By: Tooba Qureshi Uzma Saleem Katrina Tuazon
Michelle Hungate
Sonya Ali

2. 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.
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.
Currently, the US has about 7,000 warheads and the nations of the former Soviet Union have approximately 6,000. There are enough nuclear weapons in the world to destroy all civilization as we know it. They are perhaps the most powerful forces that man has ever wielded. Other countries that possess known nuclear capabilities are the United Kingdom, France, the People's Republic of China, Pakistan, and India. When first developed, nuclear weapons were completely strategic weapons. That is, they were not designed to destroy enemy weaponry; they were designed to destroy entire cities. However, there are now small, tactical nuclear weapons in addition to the others. Besides how powerful a nuclear weapon is, there are other differences between them. They can be either a fusion or a fission device, and they can be dropped from an airplane, fired from an artillery gun, or attached to various types of rockets.
Sonya Ali

3. Nuclear Weapon cont.
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
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
Sonya Ali

4. How does an atomic bomb work?
Fission
Neutrons strike nucleus
Uranium 235
By-products
90% fissionable material
Fission occurs and starts chain reactions. Neutrons strike the nucleus and the nucleus then splits into 2 equal parts. Uranium 235 is used in the bomb. It splits into by-products. They are usually krypton or barium. The atomic bomb concentrates over 90% fissionable material for a single explosive event.
Michelle Hungate

5. 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)
Uranium 235
-Uranium has 92 protons and 142 neutrons. Plutonium has 94 protons and 150 neutrons. The difference of protons and neutrons causes it to be unstable. (More neutrons than protons)
Plutonium 239
Katrina Tuazon

6. What is used to make an atomic bomb?
Uranium 235 or Plutonium 239
Trinitrotoluene (TNT)
The elements used to create an atomic bomb are either uranium 235 or plutonium Also, the product Trinitrotoluene, otherwise known as TNT, is used.
Michelle Hungate

7. Where does the energy from an atomic bomb come from?
Fission reaction
Chain reactions
Neutrons
Part of the energy comes from the fission reaction. The fission reaction then starts a series of chain reactions which continue for a while. The explosion releases 2.5 fast or prompt neutrons.
Michelle Hungate

8. 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 more than $2 billion and intense scientific and engineering work used to create atomic bomb
On July 16, 1945 the bomb was tested.
Just before the beginning of World War II, Albert Einstein wrote to then President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Einstein and several other scientists told Roosevelt of efforts in Nazi Germany to purify uranium-235, which could be used to build an atomic bomb. It was shortly thereafter that the United States Government began the serious undertaking known then only as "The Manhattan Project." Simply put, the Manhattan Project was committed to expediting research that would produce a viable atomic bomb.
Making Enriched Uranium
The most complicated issue to be addressed in making of an atomic bomb was the production of ample amounts of "enriched" uranium to sustain a chain reaction. At the time, uranium-235 was very hard to extract.
A massive enrichment laboratory/plant was constructed at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Harold Urey and his colleagues at Columbia University devised an extraction system that worked on the principle of gaseous diffusion, and Ernest Lawrence (inventor of the Cyclotron) at the University of California in Berkeley implemented a process involving magnetic separation of the two isotopes.
Next, a gas centrifuge was used to further separate the lighter U-235 from the heavier, non-fissionable U-238. Once all of these procedures had been completed, all that needed to be done was to put to the test the entire concept behind atomic fission ("splitting the atom," in layman's terms).
Robert Oppenheimer - Manhattan Project
Over the course of six years, from 1939 to 1945, more than $2 billion was spent during the history of the Manhattan Project. The formulas for refining uranium and putting together a working atomic bomb were created and seen to their logical ends by some of the greatest minds of our time. Chief among the people who unleashed the power of the atom was Robert Oppenheimer, who oversaw the project from conception to completion.
“The Gadget”
Uzma Saleem

9. First Atomic Bomb

10. The Dawn of the Atomic age
"...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."
-The horrible images of death and destruction from Hiroshima and Nagasaki challenged international community to confront the reality that by mastering the atom, mankind now had the potential to destroy whole civilizations
-In November 1945, the US, UK, and Canada proposed a U.N Atomic Energy Commission for the purpose of “entirely eliminating the use of atomic energy for destructive purposes”
-Baruch Plan of 1946, offered by US, suggested international ownership and control of all nuclear weapons
-First postwar nuclear disarmament efforts failed
-William Lawrence, New York Times, September 26, 1945
If the radiance of a thousand suns Were 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
Uzma Saleem

11. 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.
-The hydrogen bomb produces more energy.
-Isotopes used in the H-Bomb is deuterium and tritium.
-Energy from the atomic bomb comes from the lost mass.
H- bomb
A-bomb
Katrina Tuazon

12. 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.
-There is more energy per gram in fusion than fission.
-There is no limit on the amount of the fusion that can occur, unlike fission.
Katrina Tuazon

13. Countries Possessing Nuclear Arms
Soviet Union- 1949
France- 1960
-Soviet Union 1949, UK 1952, France 1960, China 1964
-The 1968 nuclear non-proliferation treaty recognizes nuclear weapons states as countries which have a “nuclear weapon or other explosive device”
-Israel, India, and Pakistan are not part of the NPT, but are considered holders of nuclear weapons technology
United Kingdom- 1952
China- 1964
Uzma Saleem

14. 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.
- Dominant effect = nuclear weapon instantly discharges X-ray energy followed by thermal radiation, atmospheric blast and the subsequent movement of longer-term radiation, which is carried in dust from the bomb and residue from any crater.
-These effects depend on how the nuclear weapon was used. Weather is also a factor.
- The particles of a nuclear weapon immediately rise temperatures of several million degrees and produce an huge fireball of heat and radiation.
- An explosion in the atmosphere causes a shock wave of compressed air. This causes over-pressure.
- Here the first wave meets a reactive reflection and Thermal radiation also occurs.
- Buildings will suffer damage from explosion and fire. Buildings are also ruined by fires caused by the thermal radiation.
- Even though people are generally injured by the fall of buildings rather than by the over-pressure, the many forms of radiation also kill people, either rapidly or gradually.
Tooba Qureshi

15. 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.
A dirty bomb is one form of a radiological dispersal device, or a device that causes the purposeful spreading of radioactive material without a nuclear explosion.
A dirty bomb combines a conventional explosive with radioactive material.
Most dirty bombs would not discharge enough radiation to kill people or cause harsh illness. The conventional explosive itself would be more dangerous to individuals than the radioactive material.
Tooba Qureshi

16. 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.
- Threat deeply relies on the amount of radiation spread and the amount the individual has had contact with.
Other factors that pose a threat to the general public would rely on the amount absorbed by the body, the form of radiation absorbed by the body, how far the person was from the bomb, type of contact it encountered with the radiation, and the length of time exposed to the radiation.
The health effects of radiation tend to be directly relative to the radiation dose. In other words, the higher the radiation dose, the higher risk of injury.
Tooba Qureshi

17. Nuclear Weapon
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.
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

18. Bibliography
Clyde , John. "Nuclear Warfare." Nuclear Physics: Past, Present, and Future. 28 Oct Nov 2007 <
"Fact Sheet on Dirty Bombs." U.S. NRC. 22 Feb Nov <
“Splitting the Atom”. Nettrekker. Online Forum. 7 Nov
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 M.E. Sharpe, Inc.
Introduction." Federation of American Scientist. 21 Oct Webmaster. 12 Nov <

19. Bibliography (Con’t.)
"Key Nuclear Explosive Materials." Institute For Science and International Security Nov 2007 <
"Hydrogen Bomb." The Columbia Encyclopedia Nov 2007 <
"The Neutron Bomb." Atomic Archive Nov 2007 <
"The Solar Core." Windows to the Universe Nov 2007 <

20. Picture Citation
Radiological Dispersal Devices (RDDs).' Radiaton Event Medical Managment . 09 Oct US Department of Health & Human Services. 12 Nov 2007 < rdd.htm#about>.