Is there any evidence that a uranium-based "atom bomb" was ever dropped onto Nagasaki, Japan?
345678
On the morning of August 6, 1945, the United States Army Air Forces dropped the nuclear weapon "Little Boy" on the city of Hiroshima, followed three days later by the detonation of the "Fat Man" bomb over Nagasaki, Japan. The estimates of the combined death toll range from 100,000 to 220,000, with some estimates considerably higher when delayed deaths from radiation exposure are counted. More than 90% of the casualties were civilians.\n\nThe role of the bombings in Japan's surrender, as well as the effects and justification of them, have been subject to much debate. In the U.S., the prevailing view is that the bombings ended the war months sooner than would otherwise have been the case, saving many lives that would have been lost on both sides if the planned invasion of Japan had taken place[1]. In Japan, the general public tends to think that the bombings were needless as the preparation for the surrender was in progress in Tokyo[2].
93404
Russia dropped!!!!from an airplane this hugh super H-Bomb...it was meant to scare the US. There is a video of it on the net somewhere. It was the biggest one set off..I found a link to it below
794246
Absolutely.  In fact, there have been several different approaches, including zapping little pellets with a monster laser (NOVA), which are then immersed in water.  These minuscule nuclear bombs fuse and release their energy into the water, creating steam and turning turbines.\n\nThe most promising method, however, is a fusion reactor; a magnetic bottle which traps plasma.  Fusion occurs when the electromagnetic forces of nuclei (which are positive) are overcome.  In order to get nuclei, atoms are injected into the reactor and brought to immense temperatures.  The individual atoms, which are neutral, become so energetic that the electrons are stripped from the nuclei, creating plasma.  Plasma is simply free electrons (negatively charged and unbounded to a nucleus) and the positively charged nuclei.  Because these are positively and negatively charged, the plasma is contained within magnetic field lines.  This is the proverbial "magnetic bottle".\n\nThe nuclei smash into each other, creating helium nuclei and excess neutrons.  These neutrons are EXTREMELY energetic (14 MeV), and are neutrally charged.  Therefore, these neutrons zip right past the magnetic field lines.  The charged plasma remains, continuing the fusion process; and the neutrons are captured in water, where elastic collisions with H2O molecules transfers the energy from the neutrons to the water, heating the water, turning it to steam, and turning the turbines.\n\nThere are a couple of major problems.  First, the sun is very big and very hot.  Getting similar temperatures and pressures on Earth is next to impossible.  Although the energy released is several orders of magnitude greater than the energy put in when the process is going a full capacity, getting it started has been very difficult.  However, through TFTR and the new ITER, already the plasmas have generated more energy than were used to start the process.  This is a big step.\n\nAlso, the magnetic bottle and the plasma can experience some strange instabilities and wave functions.  Any time a harmonic resonance-like phenomena occurs, the fusion can break down, the plasma cools, and the process slows or stops.  As the test reactors continue to gather data, these phenomena are better understood.\n\nFinally, those 14 MeV neutron zip through the magnetic bottle and the water, and interact with impurities in the concrete and building materials, creating radioactive waste.  This waste is not insignificant - huge amounts of concrete becomes low-level waste.  Low level waste is NOT a measure of how dangerous it is - this stuff can be very dangerous - but it will only remain dangerous for about 100 years or so.  It's not the stuff that remains deadly for thousands of years.\n\nSo solve the instabilities, be able to sustain a plasma and reaction long enough to become self-sustaining, and be prepared for the low level waste, and fusion will become an almost unlimited energy supply.
1156042
Pearl Harbor led to the aerial bombardment of civilians....at hiroshima and nagasaki. Toward the end of the war, the Japanese turned down the Potsdam demands for unconditional surrender, even tho they were making overtures for peace through their emmissaries in Sweden.\n\nThe kamikazi and suicidal attackes at Iwo and Okinawa led the US to believe that hundreds of thousands of lives were at stake if they assualted Japan itself, therefore, to end the war quickly it was decided to use the a-bomb to save further American lives.\n\nAnd finally, the US wanted to end the war quickly before the Soviets had a chance to attack Japan and gain hegemy in the Orient, similar to the Soviet bloc in Eastern Europe.\n\nOppeneimer and other American nuclear scientists advocated for using the bomb to end the War more quickly. Other scientists wanted a demonstration in the Pacific Ocean to show the Japanese leaders the devastation of the new weapon. Since there were not alot of A-bombs in existence, the US leaders didn't want to take a chance on the 'demonstration' failing, therefore it was decided to use it against a Japanese city.\n\nPrior to the bombing, leaflets were dropped on the cities informing the populace to flee. Anyway, ever since, the world has been staring into the dark abyss of nuclear holocaust.
673783
I believe that Hiroshima was always the primary target that day....I think it was Nagasaki 3 days later that was selected because the primaty target was cloud bound.  I think it was Kyoto that was the primary target for the second bomb.
823419
During WW2, there was a top secret project using the best minds of the world except for Einstein and a few others as they opposed the project called Manhattan Project.  Its goal was to harness the power of the atom and turn it into a weapon.  They did and the first bomb was fired in the Nevada dessert and was called the Trinity test.\n\nThe bomb was then tasked to be weaponsized and a B29 was specially fitted and modified to carey the giant beast of a bomb.  While the bomb was being constructed and designed and such, the military command along with the president were debating the outcomes of a land invasion of Japan.  After much delberation of whther the bomb should be used or hundereds of thousnads of troops be used in a invasion, it was decided to drop the Uranium based bomb on a designated city that had not suffered the same bombing campaign as the other cities had.  The first choice (the name of the city escapes me) was covered with clouds so the secondary target of Hiroshima was chosen and bombed.  The Japanese were stunned at the new weapon.  Emperor Hirohito wanted to surrender to the Americans but the Military did not want to lose face by surrendering.  in the turmoil of the that followed with the debates of surrender or not, Nagasaki was wiped away by a Plutonium based weapon.\n\nAt that time the Emperor won the fight and surrendered to the Americans.  They also did this to avoid retribution by the Russians whom they have faught for many years with prior.\n\nAfter the war was over, a tour was done by the American command and found out that they would have had overwhelming casualties had they attempted to land on Japan as they had 3 lines fo trenches, bunkers, and other assorted fortifications armed with soldiers and civillians.\n\nI hope this answered your question!
717870
Two.  And they were dropped...from planes.  One on Hiroshima, and when Japan refused to surrender, another on Nagasaki two days later.\n\nHydrogen bombs had not been invented yet, and those two were, in fact, all that had been produced at that point (other than one that they used for a test).  The US expended its entire nuclear arsenal.
796295
What anyone has to say about underground tests conducted by USA.  The same God who saved mankind from the radioactivity and damage to earth locations near and opposite side of earth to sites of blasts will save now also.  Who cared at that time for others?\nUnited States Nuclear Tests \nJuly 1945 through September 1992\nOn December 7, 1993 and June 27, 1994, the Secretary of \nEnergy declassified information related to previously unannounced nuclear weapons tests; simultaneous detonations associated with nuclear weapons tests; yields of an additional 77 atmospheric tests; and yields of 20 underground nuclear weapons tests that released radioactivity detected off the Nevada Test Site.\n\nVR
1143694
I used to live in Japan and I have been to Hiroshima. As horrible as it was I really think the bombs saved lives on both sides. I have met older Japanese who have told me about being trained to repel the invasion with bamboo spears as children. Even after Nagasaki an anti-surrender faction attempted a coup. A blockade might have been an alternative strategy but then a lot of Japanese would have starved to death. Don't forget that there were POWs and civilian internees that were dieing from disease and starvation at the time in Japanese camps. Truman's first responsibilty was to bring the war to it's earliest possible conclusion.
257364
When an atomic bomb detonates, a nuclear fission reaction occurs which actually transforms a very small amount of mass into energy.\nUsing the well-known formula,\nE=mc^2,\nwe can calculate the amount of energy associated with that mass that is "lost".\n\nOnly a very very tiny amount of mass is actually trasformed into energy in the reaction, but since that mass is multiplied by such a huge number (the speed of light squared), the energy released is gigantic.\n\nUsually, A-bomb yeilds are given in terms of [kilo / mega] tons of TNT to measure the energy given off.\nThe yeild on the atomic bomb detonated over Hiroshima Japan in 1945 ('Little Boy') was about 16 kilotons of TNT [high end estimate].  1 ton of TNT releases about 4.25 E9 Joules of energy.  Using this conversion, we can calculate that the Hiroshima bomb released about 6.8 E13 Joules.  By comparison, the entire average enegry consumption of the United States per year is on the order of 10 to the 20 Joules, so 1 A-bomb packs a pretty good punch.\n\nSince 1945, atomic bombs have gotton much MUCH more powerful in addition to the Hydrogen bomb which is exceedingly more powerful than the atomic bomb.
78527
yes, they are developing "bunker buster" cruise missles that "dig" underground and explode. They also make "tactical nukes" which are essentially low yeild nukes fired from a cannon. and there is of course the uranium shells used by U.S. tanks in Iraq. They use uranium to harden the steel of the shells to better pierce armor, although these are not specifically "nukes" they have a lot of the nasty side effects like cancer causing radiation. I don't know if the U.S. still makes ICBM's, but I'm pretty sure they do. I know the most recent ICBM's are multiple warheads essentially 7 nukes in one, each with a blast zone exponentially larger than Hiroshima or Nagasaki.
28965
Assuming you're asking about a plain ol' atomic bomb, the process at its heart is called fission. At the core of such a bomb is a relatively unstable material, like uranium. Surrounding this core is a shaped explosive charge. When this charge is set off, the core material undergoes tremendous compression, increasing its density to the point that individual sub-atomic particles (neutrons) ram together which releases more particles which ram together, which releases more particles, and so on. Each particle collision releases energy --- nuclear fission has occurred and the bomb detonates.
1084273
The bombs used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were fission bombs, with respective yields of 15 and 22 kilotons.  A fission bomb generates about 4,000,000 Megajoules of energy per kiloton of explosive force, so the Hiroshima bomb would have produced 60,000,000 Megajoules of energy while the Nagasaki bomb produced 88,000,000 Megajoules.
369606
'Little Boy' was the code name for the bomb dropped on Hiroshima and 'Fat Man' was the bomb dropped on Nagasaki
638564
Yes, they had used it but only once in world war two. They dropped the bomb in 1945.
1145274
Yep. True story.\n\nBut not real nukes.
437854
I would have to say that it would be impossible to know the answer, Pure speculation...however, after reviewing the facts:\n\n1. Japan had made overtures via Sweden of negotiating a peace prior to Hiroshima.\n2. However, they did openly turn down the Potsdam demands for unconditional surrender.\n3. Like you mentionioned, Iow Jima and Okinawa showed their army's determination to fight to the last man, altho it may not have proven that the civilians would've done the same on Japan proper.\n4. The first nuclear detonation did not bring immediate surrender from the Japanese leaders.\n5. By using the bomb, we lost the moral argument after the war that the A-bomb should be controlled and never used.\n6. The bombing of civilians was recognized as barbaric before the war and in the Geneva conventions, and yet the allies began using incendiaries on Dresden, Tokyo causing major firestorms.\n7. By ending the war earlier, we did not give the Soviets a chance to mount an offensive against Japan and create a Soviet Bloc as they did in Europe.\n8.Oppenheimer, Fermi and others considered the alternative, increased American casualties vs ending the war sooner by using the weapons, and they recommended the use of the bombs. There were some scientists who recommended a demonstration to show the Japanese leaders the potential devastation, but they were overrulled.\n\nMy opinion is that we did save Japanese lives that would've exceeded the number killed at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, vis a vis the continued encendiary bombing of Japanese cities and loss due to "fighting" to the last man mentality that showed at Iwo and Okinawa.\n\nThe number of allied lives saved, i would guess, would be around 200,000, but that's only pulling a number out of the sky...the US stated hundreds of thousands, if not more.