There are many other precautions the United States Government takes to protect the country from nuclear war. .
The history of nuclear warfare goes back hundreds of years. Uranium was discovered in 1789 by Martin Klaproth in the mineral pitchblende, and it was named after the planet Uranus. Pitchblende was only known about eight year's prior to the discovery of Uranium. Uranium has a high density. The heaviest of all naturally occurring elements; Uranium is 18.7 times as dense as water, making it a common material in the keels of yachts and as counterweights in aircraft rudders and elevators. Also, it is great for radiation or heat shielding, as its melting point is 1132 degrees Celsius ("WNA: What is Uranium?" 1).
Atomic Bombs work as fission, where particles, or nuclei, are split exerting massive amounts of energy. This force expelled violently and explosively, is the atomic bomb, from the power that harnesses the atom. Atomic bombs are made up of one of the most unstable elements on the current periodic table, Uranium-235. Uranium's atoms are unusually large; therefore, it is hard to hold them together. Plutonium-239 is also one of the materials used in making atomic weapons, however not harnessing the fission of Uranium; it acts as a catalyst to an even greater reaction ("World Mysteries" 2).
The concept of radioactivity has barely been around for 100 years. Discovered by Antoine Henri Becquerel in 1896, it was quickly studied by the scientific community. Albert Einstein formulated his "Theory of Relativity" in 1905, stating if mass could be transformed into energy, the energy liberated would be massive. Einstein's theory would be proved thirty-three years later by Otto Hahn, along with his partner Fritz Strassman ("World Mysteries" 2). .
It wasn't until August 1942 when the United States established the Manhattan Project, when it developed, constructed, and tested the world's first atomic bomb.