Nuclear Fission History

To create a nuclear bomb, nuclear fission must occur. The process of nuclear fission was splitting the nucleus of an atom. Splitting an atom was caused by neutrons firing through one atom and then that atom’s neutrons shoot off into other atoms, starting a chain reaction. In October of 1934, Enrico Fermi, and

The nuclear fission process that Meitner had discovered would end up playing a crucial role in World War II and the world. The atomic bomb, created by Robert Oppenheimer and his team, was based on the basic elements of nuclear fission. Meitner accomplished nuclear fission by bombarding a large isotope with a smaller one, commonly a neutron. The collision caused the larger isotope to break apart into two or more elements, which is called nuclear fission. Reactions of this type also release a lot of energy. The energy comes from the atomic and subatomic particles that change into the form of energy during the explosion. You can prove this by attempting to make an extremely accurate measurement of all the masses of all the atoms and subatomic particles you start with prior to the explosion and all the atoms and subatomic particles are returned, and then calculate the difference in mass in the two sums, you find that the answer is larger than 0 – which proves that mass goes disappears during the transition. This loss of matter is called the mass defect. The missing matter is converted into energy. To calculate the energy released or the mass defect, you can use the equation Einstein is famous for discovering: E=mc2. In the equation, ‘E’ represents the amount of energy produced, m is the so called “missing” mass, more formally known as the mass defect, and c is the speed of light, which is an extremely large number. Therefore, we get the equation that m = E/c*c. The speed of light is squared, making that part of the equation a very large number that, even when multiplied by a small, minute amount of mass, yields a huge amount of energy. If we look at the equation for the fission of U-235, we would notice that one neutron created three. These three neutrons, if they encountered other U-235 atoms, could initiate other fissions, producing even more neutrons, that would in turn, initiate other fissions. It’s the domino effect – except this time, instead of a row of dominos, it is a wide-spread fan of dominos. In terms of nuclear chemistry, fission a continuing cascade of nuclear fissions that can be dubbed a

c. Write 3 – 4 sentences evaluating the use of nuclear fission to generate electric energy. Provide at least one point in favor of and two points against using fission. (3 points)

Albert Einstein developed an equation for this process, E=mc^2. To summarize this equation, energy is lost or produced when a change in mass occurs. So the process of nuclear fission begins with a neutron. The neutron then strikes the Uranium nucleus, causing the Uranium nucleus to split into two Uranium nuclei. By splitting the nucleus, it also produces more neutrons, and with those neutron, it continues to split the Uranium nucleus. From this uncontrolled process of fission, nuclear weapons can be made. This process is known as a nuclear chain reaction. The energy released (exothermic reaction) from this chain reaction is what powered the atomic bombs.

On August 2, 1939, Einstein proposed an interesting to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This idea, called the atomic bomb, would change the lives of everyone. Making it was easier said than done, though. They needed a team of scientists: Robert Oppenheimer, David Bohm, Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner, Felix Bloch, Otto Prisch, Rudolf Peierls, Niels Bohr, Emilio Segre, James Franck, Enrico Fermi, Klaus Fuchs, and Edward Teller. Then they had to find U-235, which looked exactly like U-238, a useless material. The process was hard, especially since only mechanical methods worked. Finally, after an extraction system, a magnetic separation, and a gas centrifuge, all that was needed to be done was to test the entire concept in the deserts of Jornada del Muerto (about money).

During the early 1940’s atomic science had just began to mature. Many people were exploring the powerful mystery of the atom. Two of those people were Eugene Booth and John Dunning, who, in 1941, synthesized uranium-235. Immense scientific growth followed their contribution, since it allowed for nuclear fission (Griffith). In the years following this discovery, nuclear science took a turn. Once only used as a constructive power source, atoms began being explored for their destructive power. In 1942 the United States government funded the Manhattan Project that sole goal was to develop a nuclear bomb. The initiator for this endeavor was surprisingly the famous scientist Albert Einstein. He wrote to Franklin D. Roosevelt , and tipped him off

The idea to make an atomic bomb was conceived after the discovery of the neutron and fission. After James Chadwick discovered the neutron in 1932, scientists began testing to see how it interacted with other materials. The scientists began

The fear of other nations developing a weapon powerful enough to decimate the US led to the authorization of research to develop an Atomic bomb in 1939. Before WWII people were fearful of the involvement of nuclear science in war because of its’ unfamiliarity. Physicists knew that if Hitler developed the technology that could potentially begot the development of an Atomic bomb, mass destruction would occur. Upon realizing the necessity of nuclear involvement in war, Albert Einstein signed a letter to the U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) addressing his concerns that Germany was developing a nuclear bomb. Einstein urged FDR to fund a research program, Roosevelt agreed and the U.S. set out in October 1939 to study the recent advances in nuclear fission. One key factor that cannot be ignored was that from 1941 the US was involved in war with Japan and because of the attacks on pearl harbour it seemed necessary to develop a weapon of this caliber.

The research for a weapon which could end the world’s most devastating war World War II started almost immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor got sneak attacked by Japan which entered the United States to the allied side of World War II. In 1938 some german scientists discovered that if you bombard Uranium with neutrons you could split the Nucleus of an atom. When the war started scientists thought about military uses of this new discovery. When the atoms split it releases energy and if you put billions of these atoms together it could start a chain reaction and make a massive explosion. Three physicists leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner, and Edward Teller, believed that a

It was first developed in the 1940s, and during the Second World War to 1945 research initially focussed on producing bombs which released great energy from the atoms of particular isotopes of either uranium or plutonium.

Twoo scientists played an important part in the science behind the atomic bomb. The scientist that created the theory of converting mass into energy, e = mc2 , was Albert Einstein. Energy is represented by e, mass is m, and c is the speed of light. The destructive energy released when mass is turned into energy makes the atomic bomb the most deadliest weapon ever used.

Scientists in the mid 20th century struggled immensely to produce and understand the concepts of an atomic bomb, but currently it is easier to grasp and understand the physics behind an atomic bomb due to simulations online that can be simply accessed. E=mc^2 was the equation that began the unremarkable task of compiling and inventing the first atomic bomb. This equation simply states that mass can be tightly packed energy in a small amount of space. Then the formula E=mc^2

On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an Atomic Bomb over the City of Hiroshima in Japan, decimating the city, and killing around 140,000 people within months of the explosion. 3 days later, the US dropped a second bomb over the city of Nagasaki in Japan, killing roughly 80,000 people. The second World War had been going on for 7 years, the Germans had surrendered but the Japanese had yet to do so. So the United States created and atomic bomb in a program called the Manhattan project in order to force the Japanese to surrender. Since the US creation of the atomic bombs, there has been a huge global advancement in energy, warfare medicine and technology, including the race for nuclear weapons.

Ernest Rutherford proposed in 1911 the atom as consisting of a core called nucleus, consisting of heavy protons surrounded by electrons. For the atomic bomb, it is only necessary to consider the nucleus. Around the same time, Neils Bohr and others developed quantum mechanics that deepened our understanding of the atom.

A change in the identity or characteristics of an atomic nucleus that results when it is bombarded with an energetic particle, as in fission, fusion, or radioactive decay. There are two main types of nuclear reactions: fusion and fission. This is an example of fission. Fission occurs when a large nucleus is bombarded by a small particle, such as a neutron. The result is two smaller nuclei and additional neutrons, and a chain reaction process begins.