Immediate Aftermath: The Rise Of The Atomic Bomb

1105 Words5 Pages

1. Immediate Aftermath On August 6, 1945, at 8:15 a.m., an atomic bomb by the name of “Little Boy” detonated 1,900 feet above the city of Hiroshima. The bomb exploded directly above the Shima Surgical Clinic with the force of about 16 kilotons of TNT, causing the burst temperature to exceed 1 million degrees Celsius and creating a massive fireball measuring 840 feet in diameter. The explosion killed an estimated 70,000 to 80,000 and injured a similar number. The blast wave resulting from the explosion caused windows within 10 miles to shatter and was felt up to 37 miles away from ground zero. The thermal pulse from the explosion ignited numerous fires in the city, incinerating all the buildings within 4.4 miles of ground zero. 30 minutes after the bomb exploded, a “black rain” containing highly radioactive particles that were sucked up into the air at the time of the explosion and during the fire started falling in areas northwest of Hiroshima, contaminating surrounding areas with radioactive particles. On August 9, 1945, at 11:02 a.m., the atomic bomb “Fat Man” was detonated above the city of Nagasaki. An implosion-type device with a core of …show more content…

These casualties all resulted from the explosion of the atomic bomb but there were a few different causes for the deaths. Of the total number of deaths, 25% died due to flash burns that resulted from a person’s exposed skin absorbing the radiant heat emitted by the explosion. Another 20% died due to radiation poisoning, as the gamma rays liberated during the fission process in the atomic bomb had many effects on the human body, among them a decrease in the white blood cell count and deterioration of the bone marrow, resulting in illnesses and severely weakening the body’s immune system. The remaining 55% died mainly due to secondary effects of the explosion, such as falling debris and the massive fire after the

More about Immediate Aftermath: The Rise Of The Atomic Bomb