Nazi Germany in World War 2

Nuclear fusion and fission are two things that get people very flustered. They sound the same, yet they have almost directly inverse interpretations. Nuclear fusion happens when two smaller nuclei fuse into a bigger, which transmits colossal supplies of energy. On the other hand, nuclear fission happens when weighty, erratic nucleus fuse into two smaller, lightweight nuclei. In simpler terms, this means that in nuclear fusion, nuclei detach from each other, and in nuclear fission, two nuclei unite to form a bigger one. Also, in nuclear fission, the process of there being a chain reaction is present. However, in nuclear fusion, the process of a chain reaction is absent. Perhaps the most important to the environment, in nuclear fusion, there is no nuclear waste emitted. Notwithstanding, in nuclear fission, there are is a possibility of nuclear waste emission into the environment. This can lead to detrimental effects to all living organisms.

Nuclear radiation can be a baffling subject. There are many details about it that make it hard to comprehend. However, it is quite straightforward. Nuclear radiation is just referring to the energy molecules that are emitted from the radioactive substance. Nuclear radiation can have many negative impacts on our health. For example, alpha particles, which poses the smallest amount of harm on the skin, poses the possibility of developing into lung cancer (if brought into the body through nasal passage). Beta particles pose a threat of being even more deadly (because they are smaller than alpha particles). Beta particles are deadly because they can cause severe scorches and can also be a factor of tissue devastation. Finally, the feared and terrifying gamma particles has its drawbacks. Gamma particles are the most destructive and dangerous particle of all three because just a petite exposure to it can absolutely devastate every single part of your body, from the tiniest cells, to even your bones and muscles.

The Manhattan Project was a project that was originally intended for use against Nazi Germany in World War 2. Although a great plentiful of people don’t know this, the name Manhattan was not a secretive name meant to mislead people (for example, Operation Overlord, was given the name so that the Germans couldn’t figure out what the Allies were going to do), for the project’s original “expansion” actually did happen in Manhattan. Manhattan was the inaugural headquarters of the project, and that is where the project’s first laboratories that rifted the atom. Fun fact, the skyscraper that held all the laboratories and everything was located directly across the street from the New York City Hall. Although Manhattan was the birthplace of the Manhattan project, there were places that were by far important. For example, you have Los Alamos, New Mexico, and Oak Ridge, Tennessee (probably the two most famous sites of the Manhattan Project). Los Alamos was the staging grounds for most of the research and the actual construction of the bomb. Oak Ridge was the home to the reactor, the diffusion plant, and the uranium enrichment plant. In par, the Manhattan Project’s success was in due to the expert thinking, developing, and engineering of the bomb by the ingenious scientists involved. Although there were numerous numbers of them (more than 130,000 people contributed to the job), the most famous and important scientists were J.Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi, and Leo Szilard. J. Robert Oppenheimer was the head man of the Manhattan project at the Los Alamos facility. He was appointed as the head by General Leslie Groves, the ultimate leader of the project (of the construction and forth, but not whether or not to use it). Leo Szilard was a Hungarian-German-American scientist (physicist and inventor to be precise), who patented the perception of a nuclear reaction (along with Enrico Fermi). He was the famous man who wrote the letter to American president Franklin D. Roosevelt, which later became the deciding factor in which the Manhattan Project was started. Last but not least, Enrico Fermi was one of the masterminds behind the Manhattan Project. He led the team that assembled the Chicago Pile-1, the world’s first self-supporting nuclear chain reaction. There were a lot of important events that affected the project, but the most important events were: the Trinity test, the dropping of Fat Man, and the dropping of Little Boy. First, the successfulness of the Trinity test was a major stepping stone in the development of the bomb. This is because this test entered the world into the nuclear age. Equally important, the dropping of the bombs Little Boy and Fat Man was important. This is because this spelled the ending of World War 2. If the Allies had chosen to invade Japan (Operation Downfall), the total estimated casualties (combined for both Allies and Japan) was about 14 million. However, the dropping of the two atomic bombs only took the lives of about 226,000 (a lot of deaths, but hardly anything when compared to 14 million).

In the movie “The Manhattan Project”, I gained an enormous amount of information. However, the one key “advice” that stood out to me was: decisions made in the present can have devastating impact in the future. Although I had known about this advice, the movie very visibly conveyed that message. For example, General Leslie Groves’ decision to hire J.Robert Oppenheimer later proved to be the proper decision, for he brought the precise balance between each scientist’s creativity and the ability to pull together every scientist into a successful team. If a different scientist other than Oppenheimer had been appointed as the head scientist, then there is a possibility that the atomic bomb would have never been built, or the timing of the construction of the bomb could have been too late. Therefore, the fact that General Groves chose Oppenheimer was a key example of how a decision made in the present can have a devastating effect in the future.

Ethical and moral were two key words that dominated throughout the movie. The definition of moral is how someone can relate to whether or not something is right or wrong. The definition of ethical is how someone judges something depending on its morality. There are a great many of people who holds responsibility for ethical use of technology. However, I believe that the people who are most responsible for the ethical use of technology is you. The decision that one person makes can later effect millions and millions of other people. The leaders of the movie were: the presidents of the U.S. (Roosevelt and Truman), General Leslie Groves, and J. Robert Oppenheimer. These people all played an important role in the dropping of the bomb by: Franklin getting the construction of the bomb started, Truman, for actually giving the orders to drop the bomb, General Groves, for hurrying the scientists and overseeing the ultimate construction of the bomb, and J. Robert Oppenheimer, for inventing the bomb itself. Finally, I believe that it was moral to drop the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. True, multitudes civilians died, but as stated earlier, the total estimated casualties (combined for both Allies and Japan) was about 14 million. However, the dropping of the two atomic bombs only took the lives of about 226,000 (a lot of deaths, but hardly anything when compared to 14 million).

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