The Atomic Bomb and society

Term Project
Lianna Trevino

THE ATOMIC BOMB AND SOCIETY

Lianna Trevino
English 1010
Research paper
October 25, 2015
The Atomic Bomb and Society

Scientists didnt know then what all the major effects these
nuclear weapons would have, but through studies, interviews and
research, one can see all the effects it may have on society, the
environment, new and growing technology, medical equipment and
also the harm that these weapons cause like radiation, mass
destruction and death.
On the morning of Friday September 1st, 1939, 1.25 million
Germans swept into Poland with the support of Stuka dive-bombers
overhead. Two days later, September 3rd 1939 Prime Minister of Britain,
Neville Chamberlain, declared war on Germany1. This event was one of
the major contributors into World War II. Although this war began with
Germanys attack on Poland, The United States did not enter the war
until after the attack of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7th, 1941,
killing 2,403 Americans, and leaving thousands wounded2.
The following day after the Attack of Pearl Harbor, President
Roosevelt went to congress requesting a declaration of war against
1 "HowDidWorldWar2Start?"TheWeekUK.N.p.,n.d.Web.26Oct.2015.
2 "PearlHarbor."History.com.A&ETelevisionNetworks,n.d.Web.26Oct.2015.
THE ATOMIC BOMB AND SOCIETY

Japan, with the full backing of the House of Representatives, but one.
America then went to war with Japan, and three days later with
Germany and also Italy3. Although America had declared war the
nation had to be careful in how to fight this war and what enemy to
fight first. Roosevelt knew Germany was an advanced industrial nation
with many scientists, engineers, and possibly new deadly weapons,
such as an atomic bomb, thus leading America to a top secret project
known today as, The Manhattan Project4.
The Manhattan Project started in 1942 under the control of Major
General Leslie Groves of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in Los
Alamos, New Mexico. Other, now famous scientists such as Robert
Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein also were major contributors to this
top-secret project.5 The object of this project was to make a weapon
America could use to fight the war and help give them the upper hand
they needed. These scientists indeed went above and beyond those
expectations making a weapon of mass destruction, known as the
Atomic Bomb.
During the mid 1900s scientists were tampering with atoms to
make these nuclear weapons. These weapons where tested at the
Trinity site in southern New Mexico in 1957. The scientists that made
these nuclear weapons didnt know what kind of effect they were going
3 N.p.,n.d.Web.
4 http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/past-exhibitions/einstein/peace-andwar/the-manhattan-project
5 http://www.ushistory.org/us/51f.asp
4 THE ATOMIC BOMB AND SOCIETY

to have on the surroundings; some even feared it was going to ignite

the atmosphere and cause worldwide destructions. But, soon after
these bombs were tested the CDC to look into what kind of effect these
weapons had on the neighboring farms and communities did a study.6
The highest radiation levels were within 12 miles of the testing point
and were called ground zero, but the fallout stretched as far as
Indiana. This radiation was then soaked into farmlands, water, and air
supply where people had lived. These nuclear weapons had altered the
peoples genes, and according to cancer.org eventually causing cancer
due to all the excess radiation levels. These cancers also had a huge
variety, from leukemia to myeloma to breast, thyroid, liver cancers and
so on7.
The Atomic Bomb also led to many advances in Americas
medical technology. During the development of the Atomic Bomb
scientists discovered that the Atomic Bomb had emitted several
different kinds of radiation, these types included gamma, neutron and
ionizing radiation. Gamma rays, a kind of radiation essentially kills
diseases such as cancer. In the medical world these types of
experiments are called radiation therapy. With radiation therapy the
gamma rays contains charged particles with high-energy to shrink
tumors and kill cancer cells. These gamma rays kill the cancer cells by
6 http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/radiation/fallout/RF-GWT_home.htm
7
http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/othercarcinogens/inthewor
kplace/cancer-among-military-personnel-exposed-to-nuclear-weapons
THE ATOMIC BOMB AND SOCIETY

altering the DNA thus making them useless and unable to copy.
Although these rays are highly effective at killing cancer cells they also
can alter the DNA of good cells within the body thus destroying those
cells as well8.
Some other Medical Advances found within creating the Atomic
Bomb were Radioisotopes. Radioactive isotopes are variants of stable
atoms9. Angela Creager is a professor at Princeton University and had
spent most of her life studying Radioisotopes10. The U.S government
had produced some of these radioisotopes using the nuclear reactors
that were built to produce material for the nuclear weapons they had
been making during WWII. Scientists also understood more and more
of metabolic pathways, such as photosynthesis and how molecules
travel within the body using tracers. Tracers are used when one
replaces an atom with a particular radiolabeled atom so they then can
follow that radiolabel through the processes it goes within the body.
These radiotracers also made huge advancements within studying
biochemistry, physiology, and endocrinology. Creager said, The study
of photosynthesis offered a good example of how radio tracing were
used. Researchers had grown algae in a clear container exposed to a
very bright light; Then the researchers added carbon dioxide labeled
8 http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/types/radiationtherapy/radiation-fact-sheet
9 http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/non-power-nuclearapplications/radioisotopes/radioisotopes-in-medicine/
10 https://www.princeton.edu/history/people/display_person.xml?
netid=creager
6 THE ATOMIC BOMB AND SOCIETY

with the radioisotope carbon-14 and let the algae take up some of this
carbon dioxide. The researchers then, examined how the carbon
dioxide labeled with the radioisotope had moved from one compound
to another through the chemical reactions of photosynthesis thus
making huge advancements within science11.
Weapons like the Atomic Bomb not only changed mankind and
genetic make up but also to caused mass destruction within the
environment. America was the first to test these nuclear weapons,
then followed by the Soviet Union and so on. In 2000 the United
Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation states
that, The main man-made contribution to the exposure of the world's
population [to radiation] has come from the testing of nuclear weapons
in the atmosphere, from 1945 to 1980. Each nuclear test resulted in
unrestrained release into the environment of substantial quantities of
radioactive materials, which were widely dispersed in the atmosphere
and deposited everywhere on the Earths surface.12 Within the testing
of the first bombs one can see that nuclear weapons instantly kill most
life forms within the target zone and if it doesnt kill them instantly, life
later dies from genetic mutation and deterioration. One can also see
how the use of these nuclear weapons had on Hiroshima during WWII.

11
http://hsc.csu.edu.au/biology/options/biochemistry/3012/BiochemistryP
t5.html
12 https://www.ctbto.org/nuclear-testing/the-effects-of-nucleartesting/general-overview-of-theeffects-of-nuclear-testing/
THE ATOMIC BOMB AND SOCIETY

On August 6th, 1945, at 8:16 a.m., Enola Gay, an American B-29

bomber dropped Little Boy, a five-ton bomb over Hiroshima, a Japanese
city. Little Boy was engraved with a messaged that read, Greetings to
the Emperor and a blast equivalent to 15,000 tons of TNT, exploded
1,900 feet over a hospital and reduced four square miles of city to
ruins, immediately killing 80,000 people, 35,000 wounded and 60,000
would be dead because of the radiation fallout within the year13. A few
days later on August 9th, 1945 another bomb was dropped, Fat Man on
Nagasaki, a Japanese city, killing 80,000 people either instantly or from
wounds the first day14.
Yohko Kuwabara, a 7th grade girl, at the time remembered the
morning before
the first bomb, Little Boy was dropped, and said,
It was a clear but sultry morning the midsummer sun was so
bright it almost hurt my eyes. I looked at my watch. It was already past
seven. Ill be late for school! I started getting ready for school in a
hurry. The awful scream of the air-raid siren began to echo across the
morning sky, but the all-clear signal was given soon after. I left home
and rushed over the dry and dusty asphalt to the Yamaguchicho
streetcar stop. After I had waited thirty of forty minutes, a streetcar for
Koi pulled up, already packed. Everyone at the stop moved toward the
door at once, pushing and shoving. It looked as if I would not be able
to get on, no matter how hard I tried I pushed my way through unit I
was standing behind the driver.. Through the windshield I looked at the
pedestrians hurrying on their way, Suddenly, a strong flash of light
startled me- and another.. A profound weakness overcame me, so I
stopped to regain my strength. To my surprise I was completely
naked.. All over the right side of my body was cut and bleeding. A

13 http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/atomic-bomb-dropped-onhiroshima
14 http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/atomic-bomb-dropped-onnagasaki
8 THE ATOMIC BOMB AND SOCIETY

larger splinter was protruding from a wound in my thigh.. Embedded in

my neck was a sizeable fragment of glass.. 15
There were approximately 90,000 buildings in Hiroshima before
the Atomic Bomb was dropped and only 28,000 remained after it
dropped. After these horrific events Japans Empire announced its
surrender on August 15, 1945 but was formally signed on September
2,1945, bringing the war to an end16.
These kinds of weapons could kill everyone entirely. These
weapons also eliminated the word win because any county with
weapons like these no one would win, everyone would die and it would
be the end of society, as we know it. It is not entirely known which
countries may have these kinds of nuclear- weapons but an article by
Euro news suggests the USA, Russia, France, China, and the UK now
has many warheads17. Also according to this article India, Pakistan and
North Korea have testing sites.
The invention of the Atomic Bomb soon led to not only making
more nuclear weapons but making them better and more effective,
causing the way America fights war to never be the same. January 31,
1950 Truman announced in a nationwide radio address that he had
instructed AEC, Atomic Energy Commission, to continue its work on all
forms of atomic weapons, including the so-called hydrogen or super15 Publishing Committee for children of Hiroshima. Childrean of Hiroshima. 1980.
London: Taylor and Francis, Ltd, 1981.260-261

16 http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/japan-surrenders
17 http://www.euronews.com/2013/08/01/back-in-the-day-theinvention-of-atomic/
THE ATOMIC BOMB AND SOCIETY

bomb.18 One might ask the question, why would we want to build or
use another weapon like this now knowing the effects they have? Fear
was the number one reason American did it and because they could do
it, according to Robert Oppenheimer. The American Nation was scared
of the Soviet Unions Atomic Bomb and proceeded to build a Super.
The Supper is a weapon that would to be the first fusion bomb, which
would be stronger and more efficient than the first Atomic Bombs. This
fusion bomb idea came from a Hungarian physicist, Edward Teller, who
was thinking about making a fusion bomb even before the Manhattan
Project19. By 1949 the Soviet Union had developed its own atomic
bomb and with that the Cold War nuclear arms race had begun20.
On the political and ethical sides of these kinds of weapons led to
many conflicts with other nations such as the Soviet Union and even
North Korea. The Cold War was a frightening time for people
everywhere. Since people now knew the use of an Atomic Bomb and
demolish an entire civilization within seconds the Duck and Cover
movement had begun. This tactic was shown in schools across the
nations. It was a way of training for self-protection21. These were scary
times for the people of the mid 1900s; these nuclear weapons had
wreaked all kinds of havoc within the world. Americas release of Little

18 http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2015/08/07/hiroshimanagasaki-and-how-the-h-bomb-split-the-manhattan-project-team
19 http://www.atomicarchive.com/Bios/Teller.shtml
20 http://www.coldwar.org/articles/40s/soviet_atomic_bomb_test.asp
21 http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe50s/life_04.html
1 THE ATOMIC BOMB AND SOCIETY
0

boy and Fat Man is still talked about and what events had led to
releasing that kind of weapon. Most arguments state that American
needed to protect its own first and releasing these weapons helped
more American soldiers from dying in the Pacific.22 After America found
out the Soviets also had weapons like these it was only a matter of
time other nations would possess them as well, so America build more,
more effective and stronger than the first to stay ahead of these
uprising nations.
Through studies, interviews and research, one can see all the
effects the Atomic Bomb had and still has on society, the environment,
new and growing technology, medical equipment and also the harm
that these weapons can cause like radiation, mass destruction and
death. Our technology is vastly more effective than that of 70 years
ago; America and other nations are still making and discovering new
ways to make weapons like the Atomic Bomb. Although these weapons
are highly effective no one can win.

22 http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/beyond-thetextbook/25484
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