{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-c03aa079.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-517835be.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='How Atomic Bombs Work—and Why Few Nations Have Them' data-url='/boclips/videos/689565b6f85aec7d1d07d048' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/689565b6f85aec7d1d07d048' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nHow Atomic Bombs Work—and Why Few Nations Have Them\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003eAt 5:30AM, dawn on July 16, 1945 near a small town called Alamagordo New Mexico, the course of human history was changed. The first atomic bomb was detonated that day, and sealed the fate of humanity. It took the work of many people to...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003eAt 5:30AM, dawn on July 16, 1945 near a small town called Alamagordo New Mexico, the course of human history was changed. The first atomic bomb was detonated that day, and sealed the fate of humanity. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eIt took the work of many people to accomplish this engineering feat, but the principle leader of the Manhattan project, and the man considered the Father of the atomic bomb was Robert Oppenheimer. After witnessing its awesome power on that fateful day, Oppenheimer was so taken aback, he quoted a phrase from the sacred Hindu text Bhagavad Gita –  “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eWe know its awesome power, but how exactly does an Atom bomb work?\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eAn atomic bomb works on the principle that when you break up the nucleus of an Atom, a large amount of energy is released.  Why?  Because it takes a large amount of energy to keep the nucleus bound together.  When you split it apart, that energy is released.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe analogy is like a stack of bowling balls.  If you were to shoot a ball into the stack, all the energy that you expended in stacking them together would be released. You can think of the nucleus of an atom being similarly “stacked” together. The larger the nucleus, the easier it is to split it apart.  \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eScientists chose the biggest and heaviest nucleus that is found in nature to be the best candidate for splitting –Uranium. Uranium is unique in that one of its isotopes is the only naturally occurring element that is capable of sustaining a nuclear fission reaction.  \u003cbr/\u003eA Uranium atom has 92 protons, and 146 neutrons, together giving it an atomic mass of 238 – or U238 -- the heaviest naturally occurring element on the periodic table.  U238 however is generally stable in nature, and is not fissionable or “splittable” because it is so stable.  \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eA very small portion of Uranium, when it is mined, is in the form its isotope U235. This isotope has the same 92 protons, but only 143 neutrons, or 3 fewer than U238.  U235 is highly unstable.  Which makes it highly fissionable or splittable. When Uranium 235 is slammed by a neutron, it becomes Uranium 236.  U236 is so unstable that is almost immediately splits into two much more stable atoms, Krypton and Barium.  Sometimes it can split into two other elements as well.  \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eIn the process of splitting and creating 2 more stable atoms, a whole bunch of energy is released, along with 3 neutrons.  These 3 neutrons fly out and slam more U235 atoms. And a thus a chain reaction occurs causing more and more U235 to be split and ultimately causes a huge explosion. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eSo what’s the big deal?  Why don’t all countries have an atom bomb.  \u003cbr/\u003eThe problem is that natural Uranium contains only 0.7% of this the U235 isotope.  And a whole bunch of it is needed to make even one atomic bomb. So mined natural Uranium has to be “enriched” to get U235. Sometimes this is done by turning it into a gas, and letting the lighter gas flow through a one way barrier so that it rises to the top – because U235 is lighter than U238.  \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eAnother engineering challenge is to create a vessel with the correct shape and material to contain the neutrons after fissioning, so that they do not escape, but rather cause more atoms to fission. So usually a spheroid shaped holding vessel is made to contain the fissionable material.  And it is lined with a special mirror so as to force the neutrons back into the fissionable material rather than escape the vessel.  \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThen the correct amount of fissionable material has to be placed inside this vessel.  This is called a super-critical mass.  This is the minimum amount of material needed for a chain reaction to occur.  \u003cbr/\u003eThis conventional explosive charge inside the container initiates the chain reaction to produce your typical mushroom cloud. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eWe need to thank our lucky stars that although the concept of an atom bomb is simple, the process of actually creating the bomb is not so simple.      \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='action-container flex justify-between'\u003e\n\u003cbutton aria-expanded='false' aria-label='Read more description' class='rp-full-description' type='button'\u003e\n\u003ci class='fai fa-solid fa-align-left'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cspan id='read_more'\u003eRead More\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/button\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-report'\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-labelledby='resource-details-heading' class='rp-info-section'\u003e\n\u003ch2 class='title' 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class=\"fa-solid fa-lock mr5\"\u003e\u003c/i\u003e7 more...\u003c/dd\u003e\n\u003c/dl\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='detail'\u003e\n\u003cdl\u003e\n\u003cdt\u003eMedia Type\u003c/dt\u003e\u003cdd\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003ca href=\"/search?grade_ids%5B%5D=259\u0026amp;grade_ids%5B%5D=258\u0026amp;search_tab_id=2\u0026amp;type_ids%5B%5D=4543647\"\u003eInstructional Videos\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/dd\u003e\n\u003c/dl\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='detail'\u003e\n\u003cdl\u003e\n\u003cdt\u003eSource:\u003c/dt\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='preview-source' data-animation='true' data-boundary='.rp-info' data-container='.rp-resource-details' data-html='false' data-title='Complex questions about the nature of reality - explained simply' data-trigger='hover focus'\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003eArvin Ash\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fa-solid fa-circle-info channel-tooltip-icon' 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