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Running Head: BOMB

When the Bomb Falls
Nicholas Fletcher
Marion Technical College
February 23, 2014

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Nuclear bombs, also known as atomic bombs, are one of the most destructive weapons
ever designed by humankind. Capable of leveling cities and killing thousands, this devastating
weapon has only ever been used twice in actual warfare, on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. Since, most nations have agreed that it should never be used again. But what could
have driven anyone to use such a horrifying weapon and how exactly did the bomb create such
large scale destruction?
Even at the time, there were those who didnt want to drop the nuclear bomb. President
Truman himself said it was it was the most terrible thing ever discovered (Donohue, 2012).
That said, drop it they did and so a reason there must be. Actually, there were several reasons
behind dropping the bomb. Those reasons include ending World War II as quickly as possible,
making it so the Manhattan Project was not a waste of money, showing off to the Soviets and
intimidating them, getting revenge for Pearl Harbor and just generally having no real reason not
to (Donohue, 2012).
Of course, there were other plans. Even before the U.S. dropped the bomb on those two
cities, they were already winning the war against Japan; the question wasnt who would win, but
when the Japan would finally surrender to the U.S. (Donohue, 2012). Before the bomb was an
option, the U.S was getting ready to invade Japan in 1945 in an operation called Operation
Downfall (Donohue, 2012). However, Operation Downfall was predicted to cause more than
thirty-one thousand U.S. deaths in the first month alone and some predicted as much as seven
times worse (Donohue, 2012). With predicted casualties that high, people would rather find
another plan.
Others wanted to scale back the demands for unconditional surrender by allowing Japan
to keep their emperor, Emperor Hirohito (Donohue, 2012). In Japanese culture, the emperor is
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often times seen as a deity (Donohue, 2012). Some experts believed that simply allowing them to
keep Emperor Hirohito would have been sufficient to get them to surrender without needing to
use Operation Downfall or the atomic bomb (Donohue, 2012). Intercepted communication
between Japan and the USSR even revealed that the demands for unconditional surrender were
the main reason that Japan had not already surrendered (Donohue, 2012). But, those in charge
chose not to back down from their stance of unconditional surrender (Donohue, 2012).
Therefore, they settled on using the atomic bomb.
Once they had the nuclear bomb and had decided to use it, now they needed to choose
where to drop it. Some wanted to drop it onto some military target and to warn any civilians;
others wanted to drop it somewhere outside Japan to intimidate Japan and avoid having really to
drop the bomb at all (Donohue, 2012). Other experts did wanted to drop it in Japan but not want
to warn anyone, so that if the bomb failed to work, the U.S. would not lose face for failing to
match their threats (Rosenberg, n.d.).
An often overlooked factor is that of Kyoto. Kyoto was considered as a potential target
for the bomb as it was the ancient capital of Japan which held a deep and powerful connection
among the Japanese people (Donohue, 2012). However, experts who knew Japanese culture
rejected the choice of Kyoto, as attacking it would restore the fervor behind the Japanese war
effort out of vengeance and then they would never surrender (Donohue, 2012). Eventually,
Hiroshima and Nagasaki due to being relatively intact after previous conventional bombings
(Rosenberg, n.d.).
So, the U.S. decided to drop the bomb where they did due to a range of factors and the
aftereffects were devastating to the Japanese morale and war effort. The bomb at Hiroshima,
known as Little Boy, killed 130,000 people, while the bomb at Nagasaki, which is known as Fat
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Man, killed between sixty and seventy thousand more people (Donohue, 2012). Japan agreed to
an unconditional surrender six days after the bombing of Nagasaki (Donohue, 2012). But how
did the bomb bring about such destruction?
The bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki are known as fission or A-bombs, as
opposed to modern fusion or H-bombs (Gronlund, 2010). A fission bomb works by bombarding
radioactive elements, such as plutonium-239 or uranium-235 with neutrons until their atoms split
(Gronlund, 2010). This splitting is known as fission and is why the weapon is called a fission
bomb. When these atoms split, they create two smaller atoms, which are basically waste product,
a lot of heat and energy and 2 more neutrons (Gronlund, 2010). Those two neutrons cause two
more atoms to spilt, creating four neutrons; those four neutrons, in turn, cause 4 atoms to split,
creating eight neutrons (Gronlund, 2010). This exponential chain reaction causes a lot of atoms
to split in a few milliseconds. The shear amount of heat and energy released by the exponential
chain reaction can equal the force of several thousand tons of TNT (Gronlund, 2010). As a side
note, the same chain reaction is the source of the energy produced by the nuclear reactors in
nuclear power plants (Gronlund, 2010).
A bit of a digression, but modern fusion bombs, also known as H-bombs, also utilize this
fusion chain reaction, but not in the same way. Instead of being used to create the destructive
power of the bomb, the heat and pressure created by the fission reaction are instead used to cause
a greater explosion by causing atomic fusion (Gronlund, 2010). Atomic fusion is when two or
more atoms fuse into one heaver atom, releasing even more energy than fission (Gronlund,
2010). In the case of the H-bomb, the atoms being fused are isotopes of Hydrogen, which is why
it is called the H-bomb (Gronlund, 2010).
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Either way, the effects of the bomb are the same whether it was fission or fusion; the only
difference is that of magnitude. Atomic bombs work by creating a massive explosion made of 3
types of energy: heat, radiation and pressure (The United States Strategic Bombing Survey,
1946, p. 24). Heat and pressure are present in conventional explosions, albeit not in such high
quantities; radiation however is a new hazard not found in normal bombs (The United States
Strategic Bombing Survey, 1946, p. 24). These three types of energy are in fact the only forces in
play in creating the mass destruction that the bomb brings.
First, there is the destructive power of heat. The heat of the explosion caused a very hot
fireball (The United States Strategic Bombing Survey, 1946, p. 25). Scientists have, by studying
the affected area, figured out that the temperature of the fireball created was somewhere between
three and nine thousand degrees Celsius (The United States Strategic Bombing Survey, 1946, p.
25). However, this fireball was in the air and so didnt do a lot of direct damage. The heat from
it, however, caused flash fires as far away as two and a half miles (The United States Strategic
Bombing Survey, 1946, p. 25). The heat could be felt as far as four and a half miles away, and
caused burns out to two and a half miles (The United States Strategic Bombing Survey, 1946).
Even clothes or a tree could provide enough protection from the heat blast, indicating the blast
was not very long, not even a second (The United States Strategic Bombing Survey, 1946, p. 25).
However, the radiation released proves a new and grave danger. There were three basic
types of radiation produced by the bombs: high-frequency radiation produced by the chain
reaction, radioactivity from leftover fission fuel and radioactivity caused by neutrons colliding
with other matter (The United States Strategic Bombing Survey, 1946, p. 28). Most of the
damage done by radiation was of the first type, but all three occurred. Those within three
thousand feet were killed by the radiation, while others within one and a half miles suffered hair
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loss; there were other minor effects out to two miles (The United States Strategic Bombing
Survey, 1946, p. 28). Despite the large amounts of radiation, it apparently had no lasting effects
on the soil or vegetation as seeds grew even close to ground zero; earthworms and other life
could be found just inches below the ground (The United States Strategic Bombing Survey,
1946, p. 28).
Lastly, there is the pressure of the explosion. The blast wave created by Little Boy and
Fat Man are basically the same as those created by high-explosives, just larger in scale (The
United States Strategic Bombing Survey, 1946, p. 28). The blast came in two basic phases: the
positive phase and the negative phase (The United States Strategic Bombing Survey, 1946, p.
28). In the positive phase, air moved away from the explosion creating higher pressure in the
surrounding area; this phase did not last very long, just a little bit more than a second (The
United States Strategic Bombing Survey, 1946, p. 28). Then, in the negative phase, air rushed
back in to the point of the blast to fill the created vacuum; this phase is longer but much weaker
than the positive phase (The United States Strategic Bombing Survey, 1946, p. 28). As a result of
the pressures involved, lots of small building were crushed and larger buildings were crippled;
most of this damage was done in the positive phase (The United States Strategic Bombing
Survey, 1946, p. 28). The damage from the blast reached the farthest of all the destruction, going
out to eight miles (The United States Strategic Bombing Survey, 1946, p. 30).
Of course the physical damage was not the only effect of the bombs dropped on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They also had a great political effect, helping frame the era of history
known as the Cold War (Alchin, 2007). Nuclear weapons were critical to the Cold War, as the
U.S., the USSR and other major powers were trying to have not just better nuclear weapons, but
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better ones (Alchin, 2007). This battle for nuclear supremacy is known as the nuclear arms race.
(Alchin, 2007)
Nuclear bombs had a massive effect on the history of the world. By being dropped on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, they ended World War II quickly. With their ability to unleash massive
amounts of destruction over a huge area, they have shaped the political world since. All of this
power, locked away in an atom.

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References
Alchin, L. (2007, May 21). Cold War Timeline - History Timelines. Retrieved Febuary 2014,
2014, from Dates and Events: http://www.datesandevents.org/events-timelines/03-cold-
war-timeline.htm
Donohue, N. (2012, August 10). Understanding the Decision to Drop the Bomb on Hiroshima
and Nagasaki. Retrieved Febuary 22, 2014, from Center for Strategic & Internation
Studies: https://csis.org/blog/understanding-decision-drop-bomb-hiroshima-and-nagasaki
Gronlund, L. (2010). How Nuclear Weapons Work. Retrieved Febuary 22, 2014, from Union of
Concerned Scientists:
http://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear_weapons_and_global_security/solutions/us-nuclear-
weapons/how-nuclear-weapons-work.html
Rosenberg, J. (n.d.). The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Retrieved Febuary 23,
2014, from About.com 1900's History:
http://history1900s.about.com/od/worldwarii/a/hiroshima.htm
The United States Strategic Bombing Survey. (1946, June 19). The Effects of the Atomic
Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagisaki. 30-36. Retrieved Febuary 23, 2014, from
https://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/bomb/large/documents/pdfs
/65.pdf