The bomb was detonated one minute after being dropped. The atomic bomb, nicknamed "Little Boy", which was dropped on the Hiroshima City, exploded at an altitude of 580 meters above a hospital close to the present A-bomb Dome. (Brown, p.38) The mushroom cloud resulting from the explosion reached an estimated altitude of five hundred and twenty meters over Central Hiroshima. The atomic bomb blast obliterated three-fifths of the city within seconds. The atomic bomb gave off uranium-235 and was equivalent in power to approximately 15 kilotons of TNT gunpowder. (www.enviroweb.org) The fireball resulting from the explosion emitted an intense thermal heat, which caused severe burns and loss of eyesight. Most of the people exposed to thermal rays died. In addition, the impact of the bomb landing on the ground created an enormous shock wave

The infamous atomic bomb cataract occurred among the survivors between several months and several years after the atomic bombing. It is known that its opacity develops around the outside pole of the lens in many cases. The studies of the Radiation Effects Research Foundation on babies who were in whom of exposed A-bomb survivors show that severe mental retardation was seen mostly among the children who were exposed to radiation at 8-15 weeks of gestation.

With the United States dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the whole world just assumed that dropping atomic bombs was now fair. This happening started what we called the Cold War. The Cold War was basically a bunch of countries pointing nuclear weapons at each other. This was total chaos throughout the majority of the century.

Studies show that between 140 and 280 deaths had happened form radiation exposure alone. Survivors showed a greater-than-usual incidence of leukemia early on, and an ever-increasing rate of other types of cancers as the years wears on, much greater than normal. (www.enviroweb.org) Children still in the womb when the bomb hit have a high frequency of mental retardation, but fortunately children conceived after the blast by survivors have not shown genetic effects. Radiation in surrounding land has also gone up by 2% which means people now can even get sicker.

Scientists found out that the over-exposure to radiation from the atomic bombs increases the frequency of malignant tumors of many organs. This sickness is rarely fatal and the symptoms are extremely mild. (Adams, p.49) A scientist also found cholesterol has been implicated in diseases caused by hardening of the arteries. It is well known that stroke is prone to occur when the cholesterol level is low and that coronary heart diseases are prone to occur when it is high. Over a thirty-year period, cholesterol level shown that is rose remarkably with age.

Many innocent people died because of tension between two governments. The biggest reason for me believing that the atomic-bombing of Hiroshima was wrong was that it was targeted at innocent civilians, not military targets or soldiers. Of course in every war in history civilians have been victimized, including Asians murdered by Japanese soldiers during the same war. In the rules of war I’ve learned that Civilian causalities are normally considered to be outside the lines of warfare. The people did not even have a say on what their government did but they still paid the price. What the U.S. did was wrong; they should have taken their anger out in different ways.

Radiation exposure causes many long-term effects. Various kinds of cancer, including leukemia, is the most important late effect of radiation exposure observed among atomic bomb survivors. An excess risk of leukemia was one of the earliest delayed effects of radiation exposure seen in the victims of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima in August 1945. (Baldwin, p.59) More than 50 years after the bombs, this excess is widely seen as the most apparent long-term effect of radiation. Death from leukemia is a primary symbol of the suffering of the survivors of the atomic bombing.

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