This site confirms the impressive nature of the development of the atomic bomb as a part of scientific history. It will discuss discoveries made by scientists throughout history that were vital to the project. Additionally, this site will also cover the development of the Manhattan Project, including several existing manufacturing facilities. Finally, this site will cover the testing of the first atomic bomb. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The development of the atomic bomb is the most impressive scientific development in history. Development of the bomb began with scientists working on independent projects, culminating in the Manhattan Project, and fully merging with the tests at Trinity. The background and history of the science that led to the Manhattan Project is important because it incorporates many ideas from previous decades. The Manhattan Project is the largest ever demonstration of the scientific community coming together. Hundreds and thousands of people and communities came together for a common goal: to end World War II. Ultimately, the power and wonder of this project itself came to fruition with testing at Trinity. This marked the end of the Manhattan Project. It is for these three reasons that the development of the atomic bomb is the most impressive development in the history of science. The development of the atomic bomb was impressive because it was the accumulation of decades of physics and chemistry. Before anyone thought or expressed ideas about the mass production of atomic bombs, the scientific foundations had to be laid. Forty years before the atomic bomb was made, scientists were developing ideas that would become the backbone of the Manhattan Project. Advances in physics and chemistry had to occur before the bomb could be produced. The exploration of radiation and the atom would eventually lead to the discovery of the atomic bomb. Scientists in both physics and chemistry explored the mysterious properties of the atom. In the late 1890s Antoine Henri Becquerel (1852-1908) discovered the radioactivity of uranium. Radioactive elements emit radiant energy in the form of a (alpha), b (beta), g (gamma) rays. Following its discovery, in 1902 Marie Curie (1867-1934) and Pierre Curie (1859-1906) isolated the radioactive element radium.GRAPHICThese two discoveries would soon become important for the choice of material for the bomb(3). The discovery of the atom and its properties, as well as advances in physics, have allowed scientists to develop complex reactions. Albert Einstein's (1879-1958) famous Theory of Relativity incorporates the idea that small amounts of mass can be converted into large amounts of energy. The equation E = mc? is based on the fact that the speed of light, c, is very high and a small amount of mass, m, is enough to release large amounts of energy, E. This concept laid the foundations for the discoveries of nuclear fission. Niels Bohr (1885-1962) performed experiments on the atom and in 1913 proposed a picture of what the atom looks like. This model suggested that the atom contains a nucleus at the center with spinning electrons. Bohr stated that these electrons orbit only at specific distances. When electrons change distance towards the nucleus they emit radiation (4). The radiation occurs in bursts because electrons can only change orbit at intervals. Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937) worked with Bohr on the atom and discovered that there is more than one type of atom and that it can be stable or unstable. The introduction of the neutron in 1932 by James Chadwick (1891-1974) contributed to a more complete description and understanding of the atom. The first signs of fissionnuclear power (the energy source for the atomic bomb) arrived in 1934 when Enrico Fermi (1901-1954) and Irene Joliot-Curie (1897-1956) disintegrated heavy atoms by spraying them with neutrons. At this point these scientists did not realize that they had achieved fission. Otto Hahn (1879-1968), a German physicist, performed the same experiments and is credited with the discovery of fission. He successfully split an atom. The splitting of an atom is based on Einstein's formula E = mc? In theory, splitting an atom can cause the production of large amounts of energy. With the discovery of uranium, Hahn, in 1938, managed to discover that the nucleus of uranium can be easily broken down to produce large quantities of energy. When the nucleus is split, energy is lost. This discovery alone would later have a huge effect on the world (3). With the discovery of fission many people thought that this energy could be used for both good and evil. Einstein was one of Hahn's friends and learned of his new discovery. Einstein knew that this discovery would become very important and wrote a letter to President Roosevelt expressing his concern that the Germans were developing a powerful new bomb. In August 1939, he ordered President Roosevelt to begin looking for ways to harvest this energy for a U.S. bomb before Germany did. This led to the start of the Manhattan Project. The main purpose of the Manhattan Project was to develop an effective method for mass producing atomic bombs. It was thought that hundreds of bombs would be needed to win the war and the only way to do so was to build powerful chemical and manufacturing plants. Nuclear fission and uranium had to be understood before these plants could be produced. Nuclear fission is a reaction in which the nucleus of an atom is split into two equal fragments. This reaction can produce 100 million volts of energy. This large amount of energy comes from the strong forces that hold the atom together. Because these forces are so strong, it is difficult to split the nucleus of a stable atom. Uranium however is quite unstable and can be split easily. Uranium atoms have trouble staying together because they are so large (the largest natural element) and tend to split apart. Uranium will naturally decompose on its own over time. When this occurs, radiation is emitted and the material turns into metallic lead. There are two isotopes of uranium, U-238 and U-235. Both isotopes have 92 protons, but U-238 has 146 neutrons while U-235 has 143 neutrons. U-235 is the fissile material needed for the complex fission reaction of the atomic bomb. U-238 cannot be used because it will not split. Bombarding the nucleus with many neutrons splits U-235. When this happens a chain reaction develops. A neutron will split the uranium nucleus into two parts, barium and krypton. The result is extra neutrons. These neutrons then interact with other U-235 molecules causing them to split. This chain reaction occurs instantaneously and produces heat and gamma radiation (6). Obtaining pure enriched U-235 is a difficult task. Uranium ore contains both U-238 and U-235, but separating them can be quite difficult. One obstacle to reaching U-235 is that so little of it exists in the world. Of all the uranium in the world, 99% is U-238 and only 1% is U-235. The Manhattan Project would spend a lot of time and money studying ways to separate this precious metal (6). The development of the atomic bomb is one of the most impressive scientific developments due to the immense effort put into the six years of the Manhattan Project. . The speed with which this project took place and thejoint efforts of many communities and companies allowed this project to come to fruition. Secrecy was the top priority during this project, which added to its grandeur. The Manhattan Project was to develop a way to separate uranium and build a bomb mechanism. Once uranium was split in 1938, efforts began to produce large quantities of enriched U-235. Dr. Vannevar Bush of Scientific Research and Development coordinated the project. Once it was determined that large quantities of uranium could be produced, President Roosevelt entrusted the project to the US Army. Lieutenant Leslie Grooves was assigned as project manager in September 1942. Lieutenant Leslie Grooves was responsible for coordinating and developing large-scale facilities that would mass-produce the material needed for the atomic bomb. A district was formed under Colonel James C. Marshall and Deputy Kenneth D. Nicholas and was called the District or Manhattan Project (1). Many years of the Manhattan Project were spent developing a suitable method for obtaining and separating uranium. There were three known methods including gaseous diffusion, electromagnetic effects and thermal diffusion. These three methods worked for separating small amounts of uranium, but it was unclear whether or not they could work on a large scale. Manhattan Project scientists focused their attention primarily on the separation of uranium through gaseous diffusion and electromagnetic effects. They also explored the use of plutonium as another raw material for the atomic bomb. Plutonium, or PU-239, is a fissile material that can be produced from U-238. U-238 can be saturated with neutrons to produce plutonium and does not need to be separated (6). The plutonium was to be produced through the use of a graphite pile or reactor. The necessary uranium ore was difficult to find and large quantities were needed for the project. Twelve thousand tons of uranium were purchased by Edgar Sengier and imported from the Belgian Congo. Sengier sold the uranium at a discount because he wanted to help the war effort, although he was never told what this material was actually used for. This uranium provided the project with the most essential raw material (1). Uranium and plutonium became the center of the atomic bomb project. Lieutenant Groves approved two major sites for uranium and plutonium production. These sites would be the center of atomic development. Oak Ridge, Tennessee became the site of separation of uranium through gaseous diffusion and electromagnetic effects. And Hanford, Washington, adopted the Plutonium project. The Oak Ridge facility was responsible for separating U-238 and U-235 while urgency and privacy were very important during the construction of this facility. No one could know what was being built, including the workers. All they knew was that it had to be done quickly. Construction of the Oak Ridge plant began before it was certain that gaseous diffusion or electromagnetism would work on a large scale. Groves decided that construction on Oak Ridge needed to begin as soon as possible because the United States might have to produce many bombs at once and could not afford to wait for the technology. Groves decided that large structures needed to be built and that technology would simply have to catch up (1). Gaseous diffusion is a complex process that involves the combination of uranium and fluorine to form a hexafluoride gas. This mixture is then passed through porous barriers and the enriched uranium is extracted. In 1942 this procedure could only separate micrograms of enriched uranium. The construction of the broadcasting systemgaseous, codenamed K-25 for secrecy, could not wait for research to warrant a large-scale construction process. The first thing built in Oak Ridge in 1943 was a powerful power plant. The $34 million power plant was built with 5,600 workers in a record time of ten months. The current K-25 facility was designed by a company called Kellex (Kelle for Kellego and X for secret). Union Carbide was responsible for building the K-25 plant. The Chrysler Company built the large metal diffusers for the gaseous diffusion system. Chrysler took a big risk in building these speakers because the speakers had to be constructed of nickel, which was in short supply, to resist the strong hexafluoride gas that formed during the process. If Chrysler did not produce the necessary speakers, they would lose large sums of money and their reputation. Chrysler, however, was dedicated to helping end the war and devised a way to plate stainless steel with nickel. Mass production of speakers began and was given the code name X-100. Construction of the chemical plant was difficult because the chemistry of uranium was unknown. Barriers and pumps were needed for the uranium separation process, and two companies, the Houdaille-Hershey and the Allis-Chalmers Company, built them. The barriers were built in Decatur, Illinois, and the pumps in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during the spring of 1943. The final plant was U-shaped spread over an area of ​​two million square feet. It was half a mile long and four hundred feet wide. All the companies involved in the gaseous diffusion plant took big risks because they didn't know what they were building and they didn't know if it would work (1). While the gaseous diffusion plant was being built, research was being conducted on the electromagnetic separation of uranium. Lieutenant Groves wanted to be sure that another method of separating uranium was available in case gaseous diffusion could produce the necessary quantities of enriched U-235. Electromagnetic separation was discovered at the University of California, Berkley. This process involved a “calutron” that smashed atoms together through the use of a magnet. The University of California could only produce micrograms of enriched U-235. Both scientists and engineers had their doubts about the operation of a large-scale electromagnetic plant (5). Stone and Webster, the U.S. Army's general contractors, built the electromagnetic facility, code-named Y-12. A large amount of silver was required to produce the enormous coils and electrical conductors. The United States Department of the Treasury provided the Manhattan Project with one thousand tons of silver for the project. The department was told nothing about the project, except that the silver was needed to help end the war. The electromagnetic plant was just as large as the gaseous diffusion plant. The workforce of both these plants included 20,000 people with a salary of five million dollars a month. None of the workers at this plant had the slightest idea that they were separating uranium for an atomic bomb (1). In 1944 the gaseous diffusion plant and the electromagnetic plant were not producing substantial quantities of enriched U-235. Lieutenant Groves decided to try another separation technique at Oak Ridge. A thermal diffusion plant, S-50, was built in 69 days. This large-scale process also did not produce a considerable amount of U-235. Scientists have determined that if the electromagnetic plant were fed enriched material from the thermal diffusion plant, it would produce U-235 (5). This was good because theconstruction of the thermal diffusion system has no longer become a mistake. Production of U-235 continued, and the material was shipped to Los Alamos, New Mexico, in July 1945. In addition to the work that was being done with the separation of uranium, scientists were working on an effective way to produce large quantities of plutonium. Enrico Fermi, among others, successfully produced the first plutonium chain reaction in the Compton laboratory at the University of Chicago in 1942. The reaction took place in a small graphite reactor. Union Carbide stepped in to produce the graphite. They stopped their own production to help the Manhattan Project. Once proven to work, a pilot plant with a graphite reactor, code-named X-10, was built in Oak Ridge. The X-10 reactor was kept secret and was used to perform experiments and produce small quantities of plutonium. The results of this reactor were used to build a plutonium production plant in Hanford, Washington (5). In 1943 Hanford was chosen as the site for a plutonium production plant. Citizens living in Richland, Hanford and White Bluffs, Washington were asked to vacate so that a manufacturing plant could be built on their 600 square miles of land. People were angry but understood that it had to be done to support the war effort. Dupont built the building. Once again a company had to sacrifice its workers and its reputation for a plant based solely on an idea. They accepted all the risks. This plutonium plant contained many unknown risks because scientists were not sure how a large plant would work. The Chicago pole and Oak Ridge's X-10 worked well, but were much smaller than those needed at Hanford. Many technical questions were unanswered (1). Construction of the plant was led by Gilbert P. Church. While he was running the plant he had no idea what it was for. For this production plant, design and development were carried out at the same time as construction. The Church worked to organize 45,000 construction workers. In Washington alone, 29,762 people were recruited to work at Hanford. Precautions were taken not to hire anyone who lived in the Oak Ridge area. Secrecy had top priority. 11,000 pieces of major equipment were collected for the work. A city that could accommodate 400,000 people was built around the plant. It was like a separate city (2). Exposing uranium to reaction in an atomic reactor produced plutonium. The material was left to sit for days until it turned into plutonium. Three large reactors occupied Hanford and were cooled by water from a deionizing plant. In 1945 plutonium was shipped to Los Alamos for the construction of the plutonium bomb (2) The construction of Oak Ridge and Hanford was extremely impressive because it was highly secret and involved many scientists, engineers and skilled workers. The companies banded together, risking their money and reputations to help the military end the war. Companies like Chrysler, Union Carbide and Dupont have stopped their trials to help the government. These companies and their workers were told nothing about building a bomb. Despite this they still agreed to help. They took safety risks and built these plants when they weren't even sure they worked. These facilities were also impressive because they were built in record time. Within three years Oak Ridge and Hanford were built. This is because companies and the military have come together for a common goal. The final demonstration of the grandeur of this scientific development..