The question is whether to drop or not to drop atomic bombs on.
bombers dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, causing utter destruction and many deaths. These bombs were dropped as the Pacific battles of World War II were coming to an end. Soon after Japan surrendered, ending the war. But, was the use of atomic warfare necessary? Was it too harsh and cruel to the Japanese? The first question was whether or not to drop a bomb. The advocate position is that using the atomic bomb is prudent, and it would be a good tool in ending the war. It would put Japan in check to bring a quick finish to the fighting, saving many lives, as well as prevent the Russians from joining the Pacific War. The critic's position is that it was handled foolishly, in that the Japanese were not allowed enough time to surrender and it seemed like a big sick experiment. By deciding to drop the bombs United States of America contributed to the killing of 230,000 people.
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The nature and components of both bombs is very different. The bomb dropped by the B-29 bomber Enola Gay on august 6, 1945 in Hiroshima was nicknamed "Little Boy" after Franklin D. Roosevelt. "Little Boy" was a gun-type with two sub critical pieces of Uranium -235. These components are placed in a device similar to the barrel of an artillery shell and the fuse is lit. The bomb dropped by the B-29 boxcar on august 9, 1945 in Nagasaki was nicknamed "Fat Man" after Winston Churchill. "Fat Man" was an implosion bomb which is in the shape of a ball, with the plutonium -239 in placed in the center of the weapon. This sub critical mass is surrounded in a spherical arrangement of conventional explosives. Then the fuse is triggered and all the explosives explode at the same time. This causes the sub critical mass to be compressed into a smaller volume, thus creating a supercritical mass to be formed. When the supercritical mass is obtained, a chain reaction takes place and causes the atomic explosion.
