80 years ago, a nuclear bomb detonated in Hiroshima.

80 years ago, a nuclear bomb detonated in Hiroshima. 

6 August 1945, the first nuclear bomb detonated over the city of Hiroshima. The bomb was a so-called uranium bomb, and that means it used so-called Oak Ridge alloy or enriched uranium as fuel. After that, most of those weapons are used with plutonium as fuel. The Hiroshima bomb, called "Little Boy," used a cannon device; two uranium bits shot against each other. Most of those horrifying weapons use a so-called implosion mechanism where the ball-shaped plutonium will collapse due to high explosives pressing the plutonium ball. 

The reason for the plutonium path was simple. The uranium bomb was harder to control. The plutonium bomb needs nuclear reactors. And that makes it easier to control, and the process is always easier to stop. But when we think of the implosion (ball-collapse) method. That thing also works with uranium bombs. In a hydrogen bomb, the implosion, or fission bombs, gives power to fusion. 

The system normally uses lithium hydride, where deuterium is stored, and then the pressure of the radiation causes fusion in those systems. There is also the possibility of using hollow fission bombs to create high-power laser rays. The system explodes a nuclear bomb around the laser element. And that allows the system to create ultra-powerful laser beams. 

The destruction and humanitarian suffering were enormous. Both of those weapons delivered radioactive material all around the target area. The thing is that the Nagasaki bomb, "Fat Man," detonated over Nagasaki Bay. And the entire force of the bomb didn't reach the city. Those days were the most impressive and saddest days in the history of physics. The destruction was terrifying. 

There were two reasons for those nuclear strikes. The first one was to demonstrate the power of those weapons to Japan. And force it to surrender without exosions. The war in the Pacific was very traumatic. The Japanese fought back to the final men. And they didn't surrender. Many Japanese choose suicide, or they try to attack Allied soldiers even if their ammunition has ended. The flamethrowers were commonly used, and that caused trauma on both sides. 

The U.S. commanders believed that there would be millions of losses on the U.S. side if they landed on the Japanese home islands. The battles in Okinawa and Iwo Jima gave an introduction to what came on the main islands. So the U.S. military gave orders to use that weapon. The other purpose of that operation was to introduce that weapon to Joseph Stalin. In the lines of the Western Allies, Stalin was the potential enemy. 

The idea was that the bomb would deter Soviet aggression against Western allies. But in 1949, the Soviet Union detonated its first nuclear bomb called "Joe 1 (RDS-1). And after that, many other nations noticed that nuclear weapons would give them new power and value. 

But the Cold War began a couple of years after World War II. Did that bomb deny the Soviet escalation? Nobody knows. But in the Cold War and after that, nuclear weapons played a bigger and bigger role in the global political field. The idea of the nuclear weapon was that it denies war. It was so frightening that many people resisted that weapon. But otherwise, all leaders know its value in the geopolitical field. Today, there are many more states with nuclear weapons than ever before. That means there are no agreements that are trusted enough. 

https://www.atomicarchive.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RDS-1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermonuclear_weapon