Following this weekend’s release of Oppenheimer, a huge storm of interest has been regenerated in the man behind the atomic bomb himself, Julius Robert Opponheimer.
The film, of course, tells the story of Robert Oppenheimer and of his role in the Manhattan Project, the codename given to the planning and construction of the atomic bomb.
Oppenheimer, the self-professed ‘father of the atomic bomb’ who also referred to himself as ‘death, destroyer of worlds’, was the main figure in the splitting of the atom which led to the devastating effects of the atomic bomb.
The first bomb, nicknamed Little Boy, was dropped on the city of Hiroshima on August 6 1945, killing tens of thousands of people in mere seconds, reducing many to immediate ash.
Days later a second bomb was dropped, this time nicknamed Fat Man, onto the city of Nagasaki with similar effects.
It’s believed that over 200,000 people died following the catastrophic bombings. Millions of others have been left severely affected as a result.
But just how did the atomic bomb work? Well thankfully, YouTube Channel AiTelly have created an animation of what goes on inside an atomic bomb to explain exactly that.
Using very simple terminology, the animated video shows that when the bomb is dropped, a firing switch activates once it has fell for a number of seconds, the firing switch then triggers a trio of navy gun primers which ignite the charge inside the bomb.
This triggers four silk powder bags which each contain two pounds of cordite, pushing the uranium projectile forward at 300 metres per second.
This uranium hits even more uranium at the front of the atomic bomb and putting them together with four polonium initiators creates nuclear fission.
It is the act of splitting the atom which produces the explosion and which results in mass destruction.
If, like me, you’re still confused by all of this, then the animation itself makes it much more easy to understand.
Thanks guys.
