atomic bombs
...s were developed by Russia (1949), Great Britain (1952), France (1960), and China (1964). A lot of other nations, such as India, Pakistan, and Israel, are believed to have atomic bombs or the capability to produce them. The fissionable nuclei for atomic bombs are the isotopes uranium-235 and plutonium-239, which are capable of undergoing chain reactions. A good example of a chain reaction is if you make a big triangle of dominos and knock down just one…the rest will quickly fall on eachother and soon all fall. If the mass of the fissionable material exceeds the critical mass (a few pounds), the chain reaction multiplies quickly into an uncontrollable release of energy. An atomic bomb is made by bringing together very rapidly two masses of fissionable material, the combined mass exceeding the critical mass. It definitely sounds very confusing, but this small reaction with uranium-235 and plutonium-239 makes a very huge explosion. An atomic bomb explosion produces, in addition to the shock wave accompanying any explosion, intense neutron and gamma (the strongest type) radiation (ionizing radiation), both of which are very damaging to living tissue. It is very dangerous for humans to be around any type of ionizing radiation. Radiation also travels at the speeed of light so when an atomic bomb is to go off, there is definitely no slowing it down. Therefore the neigh...