On August 2, 1939, just before the beginning of World War II, Albert Einstein wrote to the 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.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. In fact, the ratio of conversion from uranium ore to uranium metal is 500:1. Compounding this, the one part of uranium that is finally refined from the ore is over 99% uranium-238, which is practically useless for an atomic bomb. To make the task even more difficult, the useful U-235 and nearly useless U-238 are isotopes, nearly identical in their chemical makeup. No ordinary chemical extraction method could separate them; only mechanical methods could work.
This post is very interesting. I didn’t know that Albert Einstein wrote a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt regarding Nazi’s efforts to purify uranium to build an atom bomb. I didn’t know about The Manhattan project. This post provides a great detail about atom bombs. People used to be scared by atom bombs in those days. The Technology has grown so fast that now we don’t even here about atom bombs. The nuclear weapons are the new technology for destruction. The world has seen the affects of an atom in Japan. Even today some people in those villages have genetic problems. These technologies are very amazing to invent but the effects of it are terrible. I like their theme and all the post support the theme.
ReplyDeleteThe Atomic bomb may be the end of the world. In a film about Einstein he said shortly after the U.S. bombed Japan that he felt he had made a mistake inventing the bomb and that he was partially responsible for the deaths it caused. One thing the blog taught me was that Germany actually tried to make the atomic bomb before the U.S. and if the had it would obviously changed the course of history. It is amazing that the atomic bomb has stood the test of time and is still the most feared and destructive weapon.
ReplyDeleteTerrible, terrible things could be done with too much knowledge. People have progressed so much that they found ways to destroy themselves. Atomic bomb is one of the worse things being ever invented. Although it is amazing how people could invent something like this it is terrifying to think about the consequences of it. During the history there are cases when people experience the “sweet taste” of atomic bomb. Around the fifties Stalin, a Russian leader, tested the atomic bomb in Kazakhstan. It caused the death of millions and left marks to the growing population. Were atomic bombs takes place nothing keeps developing as it used to. People experience violation of natural development – many diseases that were not there before are developed. Scary to think and I`m trying to avoid thinking about someone using this bomb again…
ReplyDelete