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An '''atomic bomb''' is the name given to a device designed to produce an enormous explosion by harnessing [[nuclear energy]].
'''Atomic bomb''' (''aka'' '''atom bomb''') was the name given to the first explosive device to derive its destructive power from, as defined by the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', "the rapid release of energy by fission of heavy atomic nuclei".<ref>OED 2004, Eleventh Edition, p. 83.</ref>


The [[United States of America]] was the first nation to produce atomic bombs.
Three atomic bombs were detonated by the United States during World War II. The first was a test explosion at [[Alamogordo]], [[New Mexico (U.S. state)|New Mexico]], on 16 July 1945. That was the culmination of the [[Manhattan Project]]. The bomb was then deployed by the [[United States Air Force]] in a bid to end the [[Pacific War]] against Japan without the need for an invasion of the Japanese mainland. On 6 August, a bomb codenamed [[Little Boy (atomic bomb)|Little Boy]] was dropped on [[Hiroshima (city)|Hiroshima]]. There was a second strike against [[Nagasaki (city)|Nagasaki]] three days later and Japan surrended on 14 August.
So far, two bombs the United States dropped on the [[Japan]]ese cities of [[Hiroshima]] and [[Nagasaki]], in the closing days of [[World War II]], have been the only military uses of atomic weapons.
 
The first atomic bombs, like the two dropped on Japan, relied on producing a [[chain reaction]] of [[nuclear fission|fissioning]] [[radioactive]] [[atomic nuclei|nuclei]]. Atoms of the heaviest elements found in nature, like [[Uranium]] and [[Thorium]], have no stable [[isotopes]]. All isotopes are radioactive. 
 
The radioactive isotopes of Uranium and Thorium have relatively long [[half-lives]], measured in the millions of years.  However, as [[Leo Szilard]] was the first to note, an atom of [[Uranium 235]] could be stimulated to fission, if it was struck by a slow neutron.  This fission of the Uranium nuclei into two smaller atoms releases a very large amount of energy - and another neutron.  Szilard suggested that, if a large enough mass of relatively pure Uranium 235, were gathered in a single place, neutrons released by the fission of some atoms would stimulate the fissioning of other atoms.  He called this a "[[critical mass]]".
 
He described how, if this fissioning could be controlled, it could be an extremely useful source of energy.  The mechanism for harnessing this kind of energy is now called a [[nuclear reactor]].
 
And, when a critical mass is brought together suddenly, forcing a very large fraction of the unstable radioactive nuclei to fission, almost simultaneously, it would result in a massive explosion.


==References==
==References==
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Atomic bomb (aka atom bomb) was the name given to the first explosive device to derive its destructive power from, as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, "the rapid release of energy by fission of heavy atomic nuclei".[1]

Three atomic bombs were detonated by the United States during World War II. The first was a test explosion at Alamogordo, New Mexico, on 16 July 1945. That was the culmination of the Manhattan Project. The bomb was then deployed by the United States Air Force in a bid to end the Pacific War against Japan without the need for an invasion of the Japanese mainland. On 6 August, a bomb codenamed Little Boy was dropped on Hiroshima. There was a second strike against Nagasaki three days later and Japan surrended on 14 August.

References

  1. ↑ OED 2004, Eleventh Edition, p. 83.
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