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Background Information: World War II
The Manhattan Project
Little Boy
Fat Man
Atomic Bomb Aftermath and Effects
Little Boy
Design:
Design of the "Little Boy" atomic bomb
Little Boy was a gun type nuclear weapon that relied on one mass of uranium-235 hitting another to create a nuclear reaction. The main component was a smoothbore gun barrel through which the uranium projectile would be fired. The final design consisted of 64 kilograms of uranium-235. When detonated, the projectile would be propelled down the barrel by a tungsten carbide and steel plug and would create a super-critical mass of uranium at impact. For detonation, Little Boy employed a three-stage fuse system which ensured that the bomb could escape and that it would explode at a preset altitude. This system employed a timer, barometric stage, and a set of doubly-redundant radar altimeters. The final design was measured 10 feet long was 25 inches in diameter and weighed 8,900 pounds (Hickman).
Deployment:
Hiroshima was selected the target for Little Boy and was loaded aboard the B-29 Superfortress
Enola Gay
that was commanded by Colonel Paul Tibbets.
Enola Gay
took flight on August 6 and released Little Boy over Hiroshima at 8:15 AM. Little Boy fell for fifty seven seconds and detonated at the predetermined height of 1,900 feet with a blast equivalent to about 13-15 kilotons of TNT (Hickman).
Robert Oppenheimer in conversation with Paul Tibbets (1945)
"Your biggest problem may be after the bomb has left your aircraft. The shock waves from the detonation could crush your plane. I am afraid that I can give you no guarantee that you will survive."
Group Website By Arturo Rubi and Kassandra Serrato
(537 Words)