![[dan-truett-mcwhorter.jpg]](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_473nrD5vEv8/S5hAR2x0JVI/AAAAAAAACVo/caHZJMX-j9o/s400/dan-truett-mcwhorter.jpg)
It is interesting that even in the early days of the Manhattan Project, Edward Teller suggested the possibility of a Fusion Bomb. It was decided that would be too complex, so the initial project went with Fission Bombs. The Gadget (Trinity Test), Little Boy (Hiroshima), and Fat Man (Nagasaki) were all Fission Bombs. In Fission Atomic Bombs, energy is released by splitting atoms. In Fusion Bombs even more energy is released by fusing two smaller atoms into one larger atom. Fission Bombs are typically measured in Kilotons. One Kiloton is equivalent to 1 thousand tons of TNT. Fusion Bombs are measured in Megatons or millions of tons of TNT.
With the successful completion of World War II, Los Alamos and the other National Laboratories quickly began working on Fusion Bombs. These bombs are also called H Bombs, or Thermonuclear Bombs. The efforts were quickly successful, but the initial Hydrogen Bombs were very large. Efforts then got underway to make smaller bombs, and they were able to make small tactical nuclear warheads that could be fired as an artillery shell. The picture above shows a thermonuclear bomb fired from a cannon.
Atomic Annie
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M65_Atomic_Cannon
Gives a whole new meaning to the term "haze of battle". Besides the atomic cannon there was a smaller warhead fitted to a recoilless rifle. It's one thing to drop a nuke from a bomber and fly away. It's quite another to fire one off from the same battlefield on the ground and stick around when it detonates. One bad wind could ruin your day.
ReplyDeleteJohn
There is a strange beauty to this picture.
ReplyDeleteI doubt the innocent men women children and infants under one of those would agree Ringo.
ReplyDeleteWow...what a picture, it is strangely amazing to see the destructive power we work so hard to create.
ReplyDeleteOH, OH
ReplyDeleteThe gap grows wider in favor of EAM
I keep thinking about the Neutron Bomb which was supposed to kill all the people in a large city and leave the buildings intact with little or no residual radiation? What Easter egg surprises does our government have hidden the cellar with Harvey the mutated rabbit? JOKE!Have a good day?
ReplyDeleteAtomic Annie was tipped with a W9 nuclear warhead, which was a uranium gun-type nuclear device. As a fission only weapon, it's a nuclear or atomic blast, rather than a thermonuclear blast.
ReplyDeleteThere is an additional nuclear artillery shell, the W33, but it was never test fired out of a cannon, and was also a gun-type device.