Physics The Manhattan Project

1) A. How and why did the project begin?

On October the 11
th
, 1939, then president of the United States Franklin.D.Roosevelt authorized the
creation of the Advisory Committee on Uranium following a letter signed by Albert Einstein, warning of
the potential power of nuclear weapons. The creation of this committee occurred a mere month after
the beginning of WW2 and was spurred on by Einsteins suggestion that Nazi Germany may be pursuing
technologies that would allow the production of bombs from uranium. This committee was granted
$6000 towards research involving neutron experiments. Around 1942 as the war progressed and more
money and resources were allocated to the project, it was renamed the Manhattan Project. The
program grew to employ more than 130,000 people, costing around $23 billion (2013 dollars),and
absorbing the British nuclear program (code named Tube alloys) along the way. On August 6
th
and 9
th
,
the Little Boy gun type explosive and the Fat Man implosion device were dropped on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki respectively, causing Japan to surrender and signifying the end of the war. This was the
resolution that the project was created to achieve.

B. The first nuclear reactor set up by Fermi and the worlds first controlled fission chain reaction
Enrico Fermi was an Italian physicist who played a vital role in the Manhattan Project. From its
discovery, Fermi and his team of colleagues pursued an understanding of the physics of the neutron.
Through neutron bombardment experiments, Fermi discovered that fission was more likely to occur if
the neutron was travelling at a slow speed, this led to the development of neutron moderators which
would then be used in the first man-made nuclear reactor. He also identified the existence of
transuranic elements by observing the products of neutron bombardment. From the differing half-lives
of these products he concluded that he must have created an element with atomic number greater than
92.
The later of these discoveries earned him a Nobel prize and further to this, induction into the Manhattan
Project. Enrico Fermi was appointed head of a team which was to develop and build Chicago Pile 1 or
(CP-1), the reactor that which, on the 2
nd
of December 1942, would contain the first artificial self-
sustaining nuclear chain reaction. This reactor was an extremely important step in the Manhattan
Project as it allowed a proof of concept of that a controlled fission reaction could be established to
produce Plutonium from Uranium 238 for the Fat Man implosion bomb which would ultimately be
dropped over Hiroshima. Fermis reactor consisted of 400 tonnes of graphite and 50 tonnes of natural
uranium in the form of 22,000 slugs. The 22,000 uranium slugs were dispersed throughout the graphite
bricks which were being used as neutron moderators. Control rods made of Cadmium and Indium were
also used to keep the reaction from going supercritical, these elements would absorb neutrons when
inserted into the reactor core, stopping the chain reaction. His use of a Geiger counter allowed him to
measure the amount of radiation being produced within the reactor, allowing him to control or stop the
reaction if the chain reaction were to get out of control. Fermis role within the project yielded one of
Chicago Pile 1: The granite moderator blocks can be seen on the top of the reactor, with the control rods seen
protruding from the reactor in the center of the picture. An operator can be seen at the desk observing the
reaction and exercising the use of control rods to moderate the fission.
the most important components, a reactor capable of allowing a controlled fission reaction and the
production of plutonium.


C. The fissionable materials chosen to make the nuclear bombs and how they were produced
The Manhattan Project involved the production of two bombs; one a uranium gun type device called
Little Boy, and a plutonium implosion type device named Fat Man. In order for these nuclear devices to
work, a highly enriched nuclear fuel is required. In the case of the Little Boy bomb the enrichment of the
uranium proved difficult due to the almost identical chemical properties of its two isotopes, this meant
that the uranium had to be separated on the basis of its physical properties.
Uranium was chosen for the bomb due to the unusually large size of its atoms, this acts to make the
nucleus unstable and prone to splitting, an appropriate choice for a fission device. Natural uranium
consists of 99.3% uranium-238 and 0.7% uranium-235, however it is the uranium -235 isotope that is
fissile and required for the bomb. This isotope has to be almost pure to allow the chain reaction to self-
propagate, if it is not highly enriched the impurities may absorb some of the neutrons, hindering the
chain reaction. During the Manhattan Project, large stockpiles of natural uranium were accumulated as
only a small proportion of the raw material would emerge as weapons grade uranium. The processes
used to enrich the uranium included:
- Centrifuging: this involved placing uranium hexafluoride (a highly corrosive substance) in a
rapidly spinning centrifuge. Although the principle was fine in small scale, it was not feasible as a
large scale plant and was abandoned as a method of separation.
- Electromagnetic separation: this method used huge electromagnets to separate uranium ions
based on the minute differences in their weight. This method was inefficient to a degree in the
early days as more than half of the U-235 was lost, scattered throughout the machine, however
by increasing the purity of the uranium feed, this method was able to yield weapons grade
purity.
- Gaseous diffusion: this method used the gaseous uranium hexafluoride and the fact that lighter
gas molecules will pass across a semipermeable membrane quicker than heavier ones. This
method posed many difficulties mainly related to the highly corrosive nature of the uranium
hexafluoride however these were largely overcome and this method proved highly efficient.
- Thermal diffusion: this was based on the theory that when passed through a temperature
gradient, the heavier gas would tend to concentrate at the cold end, while the lighter gas
concentrates at the hotter end. As hot gas tends to rise, this allowed for isotope separation. This
method was initially prone to leaks and other malfunction however after these issues were
sorted it was found to be a viable method.
By processing the uranium in series from the thermal diffusion plant, to the gaseous diffusion plant, and
then on to the electromagnetic separation plant, the US was able to achieve weapons grade uranium
(89%).
The second bomb, the implosion style Fat Man employed plutonium as the fissionable material and as
plutonium exists naturally only as a trace element, the best way to obtain large quantities was by
bombarding uranium 238 with neutrons. This causes some of the uranium atoms to capture a neutron
before undergoing two subsequent beta decays, resulting in a plutonium-239 atom. Two nuclear
reactors were constructed, one in Oak Ridge on 4
th
November 1943 and the other in Hanford which
went critical on the 13
th
September 1944, however the production of plutonium in both reactors were
slowed due the inability to find a method for effectively canning the uranium slugs. Once the plutonium
has been produced it must be separated from the rest of the uranium, this was done chemically through
the bismuth phosphate process.

D: Critical mass define what it is and explain why it is important in nuclear chain reactions
Critical mass refers to the minimum amount of nuclear material required to have a self- sustaining
nuclear chain reaction that is neither increasing nor decreasing in power. The critical mass of a fissile
material changes based on a number of factors including its shape, its enrichment, its temperature, its
density and its surroundings. Critical mass is important in nuclear bombs as it must be calculated
perfectly to allow the payload to go from subcritical to supercritical in a short window of time, this is
achieved in the gun type design by firing two subcritical masses together and in the implosion device
through the use of explosives to compress the subcritical core, causing it to go supercritical. A mass of
fissionable material is said to be critical when the neutron multiplication factor is equal to 1, meaning
that the reaction is only just able to sustain itself. Nuclear bombs however require the mass to be
supercritical, meaning that the fission of each atom will cause, on average, more than one other atom to
undergo fission; this creates a rapid and explosive chain reaction that consumes a large proportion of
the nuclear fuel in a fraction of a second. Without this chain reaction effect, the nuclear bomb would
not be possible.
E: Outline the construction and deployment of the Uranium Gun Assembly bomb and the
plutonium implosion device
During the course of the Manhattan Project a decision was made to pursue both the uranium gun type
design and the plutonium implosion device, this was due to both the fact that scientists were unsure if
enough enriched uranium -235 would be available and also because there were risks involved with the
complex and untested design of the plutonium weapon. The decision to pursue both avenues meant
that the nuclear program would proceed even in the face of complication with one method.
The Little Boy gun type uranium weapon: This bomb consisted of a hollow cylinder of subcritical,
enriched uranium-235 (about 80% purity) which was to be fired towards a similarly subcritical uranium
plug which would fill the hole in the cylinder and assemble the supercritical mass. The firing
mechanism was similar in concept to that of a gun (hence the name). This contained a complex three
stage ignition system involving a timer, barometric sensors and radar altimeters to ensure precise
detonation, an electric ignition system to ignite the explosive cordite charge, and a barrel down which
the uranium projectile was to travel toward the target. This bomb was never tested due to the lack of
enriched uranium-235 however scientists were very confident that the simple design of the bomb
would allow it to assemble the supercritical mass without hitch. On the 6
th
of August 1945 the Boeing B-
29 Enola Gay took off for Hiroshima with the Little Boy in its bomb bay; the bomb was completed in the
air by Captain William S. Parson and dropped before being detonated at a height of 530m with blast
equivalent to an estimated 13 kilotons of TNT.








The Little Boy gun type device
The Fat Man implosion type plutonium device: This bomb was more complex in design than the
uranium bomb. An implosion design was chosen for the plutonium payload as it was speculated that the
presence of impurities such as plutonium-240 would almost certainly cause a premature detonation
with the gun type method. The Fat Man bomb involved a spherical arrangement of hexagonal and
pentagonal, fast and slow charges. When simultaneously ignited, these charges would produce a
spherical compression wave which would crush the plutonium core to twice its usually density, jointly
crushing the neutron initiator and causing the core to become supercritical, this initiated the nuclear
chain reaction. The Fat Man bomb was approximately twice the width of the Little Boy bomb and was
tested on July the 16
th
, 1945 in the Trinity test due the more complex nature of the detonation system
and the greater availability of enriched plutonium. The August 9
th
1945 the Bockscar lifted off with the
Fat Man on board, the bomb was destined for Kokura however with dense cloud cover over the city
and fuel running low, the secondary target, Nagasaki was instead selected. The bomb was detonated
500m over Nagasaki Valley with a blast yield equivalent to 21 kilotons of TNT.









F: Radioactive fallout resulting from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs and how it affected
people and the environment
Any major nuclear event such as the detonation of a nuclear bomb or the expulsion of radioactive
material from a malfunctioning nuclear power plant will create what is known as nuclear fallout. Nuclear
fallout in the case of a nuclear bomb consists of both radioisotopes ejected from the bomb, and other
substances which have been irradiated by neutrons following the blast. These are carried into the
atmosphere and dispersed by thermal currents and winds causing wide spread radioactive
contamination. The effects of this fallout are far reaching and long lasting, effecting both people and the
environment. A major concern following the bombing of Hiroshima was the contamination of water
supplies.
Following the blast, harmful radioisotopes were present in extremely high concentrations in large bodies
of water including lakes and river systems. This had major impacts on the aquatic life within these
The Fat Man implosion style bomb
ecosystems and resulted in mass die-offs of both fish and the animals which drank from these water
sources. The human survivors of the blast were also at risk of ingesting radioactive particles, adding to
the already devastating position they were in. The contamination of water supplies has a flow on effect
in that plants are likely to retain radioactivity from water drawn up through their roots, this then goes
on to effect the animals which ingest the plants thus perpetuating the already present food shortages
present in the aftermath of the bomb.
The bombings of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki resulted in huge numbers of dead at the moments of
impact, however the initial explosion and flash heat was not responsible for the entire death toll. A large
percentage of the deaths caused by the bombs are attributed to the radioactive fallout in the months
and years following detonation. Radiation sickness is a condition which can evolve after an intense
exposure to harmful gamma rays and other forms of ionizing radiation. This was a widespread impact on
the inhabitants of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki with an approximate 19,000 and 17,000, in the
respective cities, caused in the months following the blast. Almost all beings within a 1 kilometre radius
of the blast were subject to moderate to severe radiation effects. The symptoms of radiation sickness
include bleeding from the mouth, bruising, diarrhoea, hair loss, nausea and vomiting and ulcers in the
stomach and intestines. If not killed by the high levels of radiation present shortly after the bomb
inhabitants were likely to be affected by long term exposure to fallout consisting of longer lived
radioisotopes. Effects of long term exposure to these smaller amounts of radiation includes the
heightened chance of development of leukaemia or solid cancers including that of the thyroid, lungs and
breasts among others. The deaths caused by the fallout of the bombs have had devastating effect on
both those who were directly affected and those who were related. The deadly force of the bomb left
over 4000 orphaned children and a large number of orphaned elderly who relied on family for support
and care; this had major mental and psychological effects on these groups.
2) A: Explain the function, using examples and labelled diagrams, of a moderator and control rods
in a modern fission reactor
A moderator: Is used in nuclear reactors to slow the speed of neutrons released by the fission of atoms,
making the neutrons more likely to be captured by further atoms. This acts to make the reactor more
efficient and is necessary especially in reactors containing U-235 to sustain a nuclear chain reaction. A
neutron moderator in a modern reactor can take the form of solid graphite, heavy water or regular
(light) water. In Fermis Chicago Pile 1, graphite, in the form of 40,000 graphite bricks, was used as the
neutron moderator. Indias CIRUS research reactor uses heavy water as a neutron moderator.





Control rods: A nuclear reactor contains control rods which can be inserted or retracted from the core,
these control rods absorb free neutrons in the core and around other fissile material to control the rate
at which the chain reaction proceeds. This in turn allows for control over the temperature of the reactor,
the amount of steam produced and thus the amount of power output of the reactor. They are also
responsible for maintaining the core in a critical state and ensuring that it does not go supercritical
which could result in an explosion. The control rods in modern reactors are made from materials which
are able to capture and retain neutrons without undergoing fission such as siver-indium-cadmium alloys,
boron and hafnium. The reactor created by Fermi, Chicago Pile-1, used silver-indium-cadmium alloy
control rods. Some US Navy reactors employ hafnium for use as control rods in their reactors.




B: What are two major differences in the function of moderators and control rods?
The control rods and moderators within a nuclear reactor perform two entirely different functions. In a
physical sense, the neutron moderator allows neutrons to permeate it, slowing the neutrons down and
allowing them to exit again. On the other hand, atoms within the control rod absorb and capture the
free neutrons, preventing them from producing further fissions. They also perform two opposing duties,
the moderators duty is to slow the speed of the neutrons, allowing them to be more readily captured
and effectively making the reaction faster and more efficient. The control rods on the other hand act to
absorb neutrons, thereby reducing the number of available neutrons and slowing the rate of fission
within the reactor. Control rods suppress the reactions and if fully inserted can act to starve the core of
neutrons, shutting off the chain reaction. Control rods are also differ to moderators in that they are
safety feature of the reactor.

3) A: Over 100,000 lives were lost when the nuclear bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. What effect did this have on society?
This diagram effectively shows the role of the control rods in
absorbing neutrons. The first fission can be seen releasing 3
neutrons, however only one neutron goes on to be absorbed by
another U-235 atom
This diagram shows the positioning of control rods within a
modern reactor.
The dropping of both Little Boy and Fat Man over Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively, had devastating
effects on the population of the city and more largely on the whole of Japan. In addition to the large
number of civilians instantly vaporised by the intense heat of the blast and the further deaths which
occurred over the following months (collectively around 200,000), was the destruction of a vast area of
infrastructure. In the immediate wake of the disaster there was an air of panic and fear in Japan, two of
their bustling cities had been reduced to dust by a terrible new force. The majority of the dead were
women and children including 88% of doctors and 90% of the nurses in the cities; this had major
implications on the city, throwing the cities medical facilities into disrepair, with a huge number of
injured not receiving enough care. This shortage of trained medical experts continued for years to come.
The city of Hiroshima was hit greater than Nagasaki due to the flat delta on which it sat; of the 90,000
buildings in the city, 60,000 were demolished including 18 emergency hospitals and 32 first aid clinics.
This resulted in a city unable to help itself, with a large percentage of labour and skilled workers killed or
injured, this impacted on the whole of society with no attempt to rebuild the city for 4 years to come.
The city of Nagasaki was located in the Urakami Valley, this helped to protect a large majority of the city
against the blast however the effect was still devastating. There existed a 2km radius of total destruction
around the location of detonation, with 39% of all buildings in Nagasaki destroyed. Nagasaki was an
industrial city consisting of many factories and a large shipping port. The utter destruction contained
within the city posed a far reaching effect on society within Japan as a whole due to the disruption of
industry that contributed jobs and income, the crippled seaport also caused disruption to the import
and export of goods, further impacting on Japans economy for months to come.
Furthermore the bomb tore many families apart. There are hundreds of accounts of parents and
residents searching through the medical facilities, rubble and piles of dead trying to identify the bodies
of relatives or children to no avail. Approximately 4,000 children were left orphaned, and a large
number of elderly orphaned due the loss of family members which would otherwise care and provide
for them. The trauma of loss has left a still visible mental scar on the communities that survived the
bomb. The victims of the A-bomb are identified within the Japanese culture as Hibakusha which
literally translates to explosion-affected people. This group has an associated stigma within Japan and
are affected on a day to day basis by the attached connotations. For example some people will refuse to
marry Hibakusha due to the fear of them dying early after having children, this causes a major rift in the
societies of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
B: How did the Manhattan Project affect the balance of power between the USA and Soviet
Union after World War 2?
Following WW2 and the detonation of the atomic bombs over both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, The Soviet
Union became actively aware of the power the USA now possessed. This sparked the creation of a
similar nuclear program within the Soviet Union, with aims to replicate the American technology.
Helped along by their extremely successful spy ring planted deep within the Manhattan Project, the
Soviet Union possessed the vital information on which aspects of the technology to pursue. This allowed
for their nuclear program to proceed at a rate far greater than the Americans and by 1949 they had
already successfully tested a bomb similar in design to the Fat Man implosion device developed by the
Americans.
1947 marked a peak in military and political tension between the US and the Soviet Union. This is
referred to as the beginning of the Cold War. During the Cold War both parties acknowledged the
importance of obtaining a greater nuclear arsenal than the other, this led to an arms race in which both
the US and Soviet Union devoted enormous sums of money to the further development of nuclear
technologies, in a struggle to maintain nuclear parity with the other. Through the action of each power
generating huge stockpiles of nukes which now had the capacity to be launched from one continent to
another or from a submarine at sea, an effective stalemate was produced, this is explained through the
MAD doctrine. The Mutually Assured Destruction doctrine or MAD doctrine describes the initiation of a
nuclear war by either as a futile event in which the only possible outcome is the complete and utter
annihilation of both the attacker and the defender, this acted to prevent either side from initiating a
nuclear conflict. Although there were however several events during the cold war, such as the Cuban
missile crisis that had the potential to tip one side into initiating a nuclear conflict, the presence of MAD
doctrine provided almost sufficient incentive not to engage in conflict.

C: What impact would a nuclear conflict have on this planet?
Through the use of complex computer models, scientists have been able to predict the devastating
effects that a nuclear war would have on the earth. There are currently about 23,000 nuclear warheads
awaiting deployment across 9 different countries. It has been calculated that at an average power of
33.5 megatons, the nuclear weapons in existence, if all detonated, have the capacity to level the entire
surface of the earth. However the number of nuclear weapons needed to cause mass extinctions and
condemning the planet is far fewer when one accounts for the effects of fallout and debris being
projected into the atmosphere. One major impact resulting from a nuclear war would be the enormous
amounts of smoke released into the atmosphere due to nuclear fires. It has been estimated that if
America and Russia were to deploy a majority of their nuclear arsenal an approximate 150 million tons
of smoke would be released into the atmosphere. This smoke would then spread around the world via
air currents, essentially creating a blanket around the planet. This blanket would have the capacity to
remain around the earth for between 1 and 3 years, both blocking out the sun and destroying the ozone
layer. The effects of this would be devastating; there would be worldwide food shortages due to the
inability to grow crops and the loss of livestock. Temperatures around the world would decrease by 20-
30 degrees and coupled with the extreme levels of UV radiation now penetrating the atmosphere,
would result in mass extinctions of both flora and fauna including organisms living in the ocean.
In addition to the worldwide cooling effects is the impact of widespread nuclear fallout. The mutagenic
nature of radioactive particles and the ground hugging chemical smog would create conditions that
would almost certainly clear the earth of all but the most basic of life forms. The survival of the human
race would be very questionable. If some portion of the population were able to find refuge in bomb
shelters it is unlikely that food supplies would be sufficient to outlive the nuclear winter, let alone
survive the barren post-war environment.
A hypothetical nuclear war involving the worlds superpowers could have the potential to produce a
planet void of life.
D: Outline ways in which society has advanced because of the Manhattan Project
The experiments carried out by physicist involved in the Manhattan Project including Fermi among
others have provided the basis for technologies that have improved society. The development of nuclear
power stations is an example of a peaceful use of nuclear technology. Current nuclear power stations
resemble the same basic systems as were present in Fermis Chicago Pile 1, they have however been
optimized to use the energy produced by the fission reactions to boil water, creating steam that goes on
to turn turbine generators. The production of energy from nuclear material signals a major
advancement in the global society. By deriving our power from this cleaner and more efficient fuel we
have created the potential to limit or even cease using coal generated power. The use of coal generated
power is highly inefficient when compared to nuclear fuel in terms of its weight to energy ratio. The
burning of carbon compounds such as coal also pose major threats to the health of the planet due the
vast amounts of CO
2
and SO
2
released into the atmosphere, creating climatic problems and acid rain.
Fermis development of the nuclear reactor has therefore indirectly provided the advancements that
have led to a cleaner atmosphere.
Chicago Pile 1 also opened new doors when it came to medicine. The development of radioisotopes for
use in medicine is based off the work done by Enrico Fermi and his team in their creation of the first
artificial fission reaction. The concept of bombarding elements with neutrons was continued after the
war, creating isotopes with differing chemical properties and half-lives, creating the potential for
medical application. Radioisotopes are now commonly used in medical procedures where a non-invasive
method of detecting tumors and lymphatic abnormalities is required. This has led to a vast improvement
in our ability to detect and map tumors and has resulted in the prolonging of countless lives. Thus the
advancements made due to the physicist of the Manhattan project have provided the necessary
methods to allow society to advance.
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