OppenheimerNew film Christopher Nolandescribes a critical moment in history when science was put at the service of war to create the first nuclear weapon: the days Manhattan Project. The planet plunged into The Second World War, a time when great importance was attached to science for victory in military conflicts. A good example of this is the team of English mathematicians led by Alan Turing, who managed to decipher the Enigma machine, with which the Nazis encrypted their messages. But this time, the goal was not to avoid destruction, but quite the contrary. WITH Manhattan Project they sought to create the most destructive weapon that could be used if something went wrong. At least that’s the way he was born.
The Manhattan Project was originally led by a physicist Julius Robert Oppenheimer, the protagonist of Nolan’s new film. Several of the best physicists in the world worked with him to first create two bombs, and later there were three. But how did they work? What is the physics of that destructive ace that the United States wanted to keep up its sleeve?
It all depends on which of the pumps we are talking about, since they are of two types: those of ballistic type and those of implosion. Oppenheimer and his team wanted to focus on the former, but created the latter just in case. Let’s see in general terms how each of them worked.
Two types of nuclear fission weapons
Nuclear fission This is a phenomenon in which the nucleus of a very heavy atom splits to form two or more lighter atoms, releasing a large amount of energy.
This can be used to generate electricity, such as in nuclear power plants, or to power submarines and spacecraft, among other things. but also to do explosive weapon, which can not only destroy a large amount of the terrain around them. Also, due to the nature of the atoms involved, they release radioactivitycapable of killing affected people for years.
Very little time has passed since this type of physical phenomenon was discovered when Manhattan Project apply this knowledge to the production of nuclear weapons. It was decided that they could be of two types: ballistic or explosive
Use of ballistic type fissile uranium shells, which fire at a target, also fissile uranium. At the moment of impact critical massthat is, the minimum amount of radioactive material required to maintain nuclear chain reaction. Consequently, fission of these atoms occurs, releasing a large amount of energy and radioactive particles, which also push more atoms around them to fission.
On the other hand, implosive nuclear weapons use fissile atoms of a radioactive element, which can be uranium or plutoniumand surround them explosives. When they explode, the radioactive elements are compressed enough to reach critical mass, starting a chain reaction.
Proper names of three highly destructive weapons
When Oppenheimer’s team began researching both types of weapons, it was initially decided to work on a ballistic type, which they christened Skinny person (thin person in English) due to its shape as a thin and long projectile. However, they found some misconceptions that also led them to work on implosion, dubbed as fat man (fat man), much more. In addition, since it was not possible to solve the Thin Man’s problems, it was decided to send a ballistic-type nuclear weapon by another route and a substitute, called a little boy (a little boy).
First attempts by Oppenheimer’s team
Today it is known that ballistic-type nuclear weapons can only be used Uranus. However, Oppenheimer and his team wanted to work with plutonium. radioactive elements used in nuclear fission, isotopes of elements such as uranium or plutonium. That is, atoms of the same element, in which the number of neutrons in the nucleus is different, which gives them a slightly different atomic mass.
For The Thin Man, we worked with an isotope plutonium-239. But there was a problem. It was very difficult to separate plutonium-240so there was a lot of pollution of it. This made the projectile very dangerous, since high rate of spontaneous fission and can get out of control.
For this reason, it was decided, on the one hand, to work on implosive nuclear weapons. On the other hand, to change its original project to a ballistic-type weapon. Thus was born Malysh, whose main difference was that he worked not with plutonium, but with uranium. Specifically, uranium-235.
Fat Man, the explosive weapon of the Manhattan Project
Initially, neither Oppenheimer nor most of his team wanted to build implosive weapons. However, the first failed attempts with the Thin Man made them want to work on this type of weapon as well.
Thus was born the Fat Man, a weapon that uses plutonium surrounded by an explosive charge. It was a much easier weapon to control, with less chance of spontaneous fission. For this reason, it was given much more importance than originally.
The Destructive Fate of Oppenheimer’s Nuclear Weapons
In 1945, two pumps built according to the technology little boy and fat man hit Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasakiending World War II at the cost of millions of lives.
Oppenheimer himself later admitted his opposition to what had been done to the bombs born in his laboratory. However, at that time he was no longer in charge. Manhattan Project. His address passed into the hands United States Army.
Thus, it was shown that science, put at the service of war, can save millions of lives, but can also destroy them. It happened when a seed sprouted, the crops of which we will soon be able to see in the new film. Christopher Nolan.
Source: Hiper Textual
