Essay The Atomic Bomb

Submitted By theginger114
Words: 733
Pages: 3

What decision would you make if it had the power to change the world? In 1945 the decision for the U.S whether to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki arose. The choice of dropping the atomic bomb was historically important because it was the stop of World War II. The impact and radiation of the bombs killed hundreds of thousands of people. If these bombs weren’t dropped on the Japanese, the history of the world would have been changed forever.

The Atomic bomb took 6 years to develop (1939-1945) for scientists to work on an equation to make Uranium-235 into a bomb. The bombs used on the cities cost them about $2 billion to develop, thus making the U.S. wanting to use them to keep Japan warned and also to save a bit of money while they’re at it. “Hiroshima was a major military target and we have spent 2 billion dollars on the greatest scientific gamble in history- and won.” - (William L.). The bomb dropped on Hiroshima weighted 4.5 tons and the bomb used on Nagasaki weighted 10 kilotons. These bombs each had a code name. “Little boy”(Hiroshima) and “Fat Man”(WebChron).
Garvey 2
On July 16, 1945, the first ever atomic bomb was tested in the Jamez Mountains in Northern New Mexico, code named “Gadget”. The bomb tested in New Mexico was also the same type of bomb, “Little Boy”, that was dropped on Hiroshima. The first Japanese City bomb was Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. An American B-29 bomber, named Enola Gay, flown by the pilot Paul W. Tibbets, was the man who dropped the “Little Boy” uranium atomic bomb. Three days later a second bomb, Fat Boy, made of plutonium was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. The amount of radiation that was released when the bomb dropped, created what they called black rain. The black rain reached 30km from the original blast site. A mushroom cloud rose to twenty thousand feet in the air, and sixty percent of the city was destroyed. “It was a kind of hell on earth, and those who died instantly were among the more fortunate. Thousands died- vaporized, crushed or burned. But there were tens of thousands more who were still alive and those who could move began to mill around the city, seeking relief from shock, fire, and pain. Thousands threw themselves into the Ota River, which would be awash with corpses by the end of the day.” (NSCAR)

By 1946 the 2 bombs caused deaths of as many as 240,000 people and the death tolls for 1950 were at 340,000 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. If the U.S. had chosen not to use the atomic bomb on Japan there death rate would have been lower, but the