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☆ How hydrogen bombs compare to atomic bombs, and how scientists created the most destructive weapon ever
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-24 | by ( Adam Barnes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Hydrogen bombs and atomic bombs are both nuclear weapons that can cause mass destruction. But just seven years later an even more destructive nuclear bomb was built — the hydrogen bomb. Whereas hydrogen bombs get their power from a combination of fission and its opposite — nuclear fusion — the binding of atoms. Hydrogen vs. atomic bombs: damage and destructionWhile atomic bomb blasts are measured in kilotons — 1 kt is equivalent to the explosive force of 1,000 tons of TNT — hydrogen bombs are often measured in megatons. AdvertisementAdvertisementBoth atomic and hydrogen bombs are nuclear weapons and therefore create long-lasting, dangerous nuclear fallout.

Persons: Otto Hahn, Fritz Strassman, Hahn, Lisa Meitner, Otto Frisch, Meitner, Frisch, Alex Wellerstein, Wellerstein, Little, Amanda Macias, Tsar, Soviet Union —, Bomba, it's Organizations: Service, Trinity, Stevens Institute of Technology, Little Boy, Lions, TNT, Little, Bravo, US, Hanford , Washington . Department of Locations: Wall, Silicon, United States, Japan, Austrian, Nagasaki, Hiroshima, megatons, Soviet Union, Soviet, Manhattan, Los Angeles, Hanford , Washington

☆ How a US government program advocated using nuclear explosions for construction, farming radioactive crops, and blasting holes in the moon
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Most focused on the potential for nuclear explosions to quickly excavate areas for construction projects at lower costs than conventional explosives. (Hamblin is the author of the book "The Wretched Atom: America's Global Gamble with Peaceful Nuclear Technology.") Fly the radioactive skiesUS officials also hoped nuclear energy could be used for transportation. Nicknamed the "pan-atomic canal," nuclear explosions would have carved a sea-level waterway through Nicaragua, Panama, or Colombia, per Forbes. Corbis via Getty ImagesFor Hamblin, the concept of "peaceful nuclear explosions" fell out of favor in the mid-70s.

Persons: Christopher Nolan's, Oppenheimer, Jacob Hamblin, Dwight D, Eisenhower, Alex Wellerstein, Hamblin, you've, Dr Leonard Reiffel, Alaska's Cape Thompson, Edward Teller, detonations, Rio, Iran —, —, Corbis, Wellerstein, Marshall, we're Organizations: Service, White, Nevada . U.S . Department of Energy Office, Scientific, Atomic Energy, UN, United Nations, IAEA Imagebank, United, US Atomic Energy Commission, Technology, Institute of Radiation, Google, NASA, Sputnik, Air Force, U.S . Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, AEC, of Energy, Popular Mechanics, New York Times, Carryall, US Department of Energy, Forbes, Atomic Energy Commission, Getty, IAEA Locations: Wall, Silicon, Suez, Nevada ., United Nations, New York, Hitachiomiya, Japan, Soviet Union, Nevada, Alaska's Cape, inconveniently, Israel, Panama, Nicaragua, Colombia, Pacific, Farmington , New Mexico, Rulison , Colorado, Rio Blanco, , Colorado, Iran, Mercury , Nevada, USA, Cuba, Vietnam, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada —, Marshall

☆ 'Oppenheimer' doesn't get Einstein's relationship with the Los Alamos director quite right. Here's what they really thought of each other.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | Jenny Mcgrath | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

In reality, Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer knew each other but weren't friends until much later. The movie focuses on J. Robert Oppenheimer, who led the assembly and testing of the first-ever atomic bomb at Los Alamos in New Mexico. Einstein and Oppenheimer disagreed on a key issue: the governmentOppenheimer (right) standing with General Leslie Groves of the US army. Out of fear the Nazis would develop and use a nuclear weapon, Einstein wrote the letter that convinced President Franklin D. Roosevelt to launch an atom-bomb program. Einstein the outsider, Oppenheimer the disgraced insiderJ. Robert Oppenheimer in 1950.

Persons: Albert Einstein, Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer, Einstein, J, Robert Oppenheimer, Nolan, Alex Wellerstein, Corbis, who'd, Edward Teller, Wellerstein, Arthur Compton, Leslie Groves, Einstein wasn't, wouldn't, Franklin D, Roosevelt, Lewis Strauss, Strauss Organizations: Service, Manhattan, Princeton, New York Times, Manhattan Project, University of Chicago, Times, Getty, Trinity, National Security Research, United Locations: Wall, Silicon, Los Alamos, New Mexico, Princeton, United States

☆ 'Oppenheimer' leaves out New Mexicans exposed to radiation from the Manhattan Project, despite local efforts to contact filmmakers
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | Jenny Mcgrath | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

The Manhattan Project displaced some New Mexicans and employed others at Los Alamos in the 1940s. Christopher Nolan's new film "Oppenheimer" leaves out these lasting, local impacts. The Manhattan Project displaced some New Mexicans, employed others, and irradiated potentially thousands. Her grandfather was the physicist Enrico Fermi, who worked on the Manhattan Project and is played by Danny Deferrari in the film. The Oppenheimer character briefly mentions people living in the area when he proposes it as the site for the Manhattan Project.

Persons: Christopher Nolan's, Oppenheimer, J, Robert Oppenheimer, Tina Cordova's, Cordova, Robert Alexander, me, Christopher Nolan, Wiktor, Getty Images Cordova, Olivia Fermi, Kai Bird, Fermi, Cordova's, Enrico Fermi, Danny Deferrari, It's, Los, Rosario Martinez Fiorillo, Nolan, Elizabeth, Alvin Graves, Elizabeth Graves, Alex Wellerstein, Geiger, Bob Bell, Matt McClain, Graves, Nobody, Leslie Groves, Wellerstein, Cillian Murphy Organizations: Manhattan Project, Service, New, New Mexico History, Pixar, Odeon Luxe, Anadolu Agency, Getty Images, Manhattan, Los Alamos Ranch, Trinity, San, El Rancho, Trinity Test, Stevens Institute of Technology, Washington, Getty, National Park Service, Los Alamos, Alamogordo, Base, Associated Press, Army, Pictures, NPS Locations: Los Alamos, Wall, Silicon, New Mexico, Tularosa, Trinity, Santa Fe, California, London, Vancouver, Alamogordo , New Mexico, San Ildefonso Pueblo, El, Carrizozo , New Mexico, Amarillo , Texas, Silver City , New Mexico, Cordova, Los

☆ 'Oppenheimer' fact v. fiction: A nuclear historian breaks down what the movie got right and wrong
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Jenny Mcgrath | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +18 min

J. Robert Oppenheimer was an immensely complex figure, and the movie's based on a biography of him. Fact: Oppenheimer mocked Strauss about isotopesJ. Robert Oppenheimer testifies before the Senate in October 1945. Fact: A big thunderstorm delayed the Trinity TestOppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) stands next to the test bomb in "Oppenheimer." If it weren't for the atomic bomb, Oppenheimer would likely be best known for bolstering theoretical physics at the University of California, Berkeley. Fiction: Oppenheimer consulted Einstein about Teller's calculations(L-R) Tom Conti as Albert Einstein and Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in "Oppenheimer."

Persons: Christopher Nolan's, Oppenheimer, Robert Oppenheimer, J, Alex Wellerstein, Kai Bird, Martin Sherwin, Wellerstein, Niels Bohr wasn't, Patrick Blackett, Bird, Sherwin, Blackett, Niels Bohr, Ernest Rutherford, Bohr, Oppenheimer's, Cillian Murphy, Abraham Pais, Baudelaire, e.e, cummings, who's, Haakon Chevalier, Peter, Peter Oppenheimer, Kitty, Haakon, Barbara Chevalier, Robert, Perro, Werner Heisenberg, peppering Bohr, Heisenberg, Strauss, David Hill, Lewis Strauss, Dwight D, David Inglis, Inglis, I've, Arthur Compton, Trinity Test Oppenheimer, Jack Hubbard, Leslie Groves, Hubbard, Feynman, Richard Feynman, I'm, Groves, Robert Serber, David Bohm, Philip Morrison, Willis Lamb, Hitler, Hartland Snyder, Kip Thorne, John Wheeler, Roger Penrose, Penrose, Murphy, Trinity, there's, —, Karl T, Compton, Stimson, Henry Stimson, that's, Harry Truman, Wallenstein, Einstein, Tom Conti, Albert Einstein, Melinda Sue Gordon, Edward Teller, Hans Bethe, Enrico Fermi, Bethe, Roger Robb, He's, Teller, Stanislaw Ulam, Gordon Dean, Charlotte Serber, Charlotte Serber's, she's, Serber Organizations: Service, Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory, Stevens Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Eisenhower's, Federation of American Scientists, Time, Atomic Energy Committee, Trinity Test, Trinity, Los, University of California, Clovis, National Security Research, Manhattan Project . National Security Research, FBI Locations: Wall, Silicon, England, Leiden, Holland, New Mexico, Perro Caliente, Los Pinos , New Mexico, Germany, Nazi, Denmark, Sweden, Los Alamos, Europe, Berkeley, Poland, Amarillo , Texas, Japan, Kyoto, Alamos

☆ How to build a cheap DIY underground bunker to protect you from nuclear fallout, in 6 steps
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Adam Barnes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

In a pinch, this DIY fallout shelter would be better than an above-ground building, an expert said. Turns out, if a nuclear attack is imminent, you can build your own DIY fallout shelter for relatively cheap. Equipment you'll need for a DIY fallout shelterPhoto taken in 1961 of a 77-year-old man who built his own fallout shelter in his backyard. How to build a DIY fallout shelter for cheap in 6 stepsFirst, scout out a location for your fallout shelter. How this DIY fallout shelter would protect youSoil is a great shield from radioactive fallout.

Persons: —, Michael Ochs, Stringer, Cresson H, it's, Sun, bomba, Alex Wellerstein, MAXIM ZHURAVLEV Organizations: Service, Michael Ochs Archives, National Laboratory, Laboratory, Getty, University of Nevada, United States National Locations: Oak, Kearny, Nes, Las Vegas

☆ A nuclear attack would most likely target one of 6 US cities. Simulated images show how a Hiroshima-like explosion would affect each.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Any buildings, objects, and people caught within this radius would likely burst into flames. Green: Radiation (0.74-mile radius) — Within at least 15 minutes of a blast, clouds of dust and sandlike radioactive particles — what's referred to as nuclear fallout — would reach the ground. Nuclear fallout can cause radiation poisoning, which damages the body's cells and prove fatal. Blue-gray: Air blast (1.04-mile radius) — Air blasts are powerful enough to topple residential buildings. The tool, which can be found here, allows you to input the city and the yield of the nuclear weapon you'd like to simulate.

☆ A terrifying animation shows how 1 'tactical' nuclear weapon could trigger a US-Russia war that kills 34 million people in 5 hours
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Ellen Ioanes | Dave Mosher | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A simulation called "Plan A" produced by researchers shows how the use of one so-called tactical or low-yield nuclear weapon could lead to a terrifying worldwide conflict. In the roughly four-minute video, a Russian "nuclear warning shot" at a US-NATO coalition is followed by a tactical nuke that leads to a global nuclear war. "This project is motivated by the need to highlight the potentially catastrophic consequences of current US and Russian nuclear war plans. The risk of nuclear war has increased dramatically in the past two years," the project states on its website. The following shows how a NATO-Russia conflict involving a nuclear warning shot and the use of a tactical nuclear weapon could quickly escalate into a full-scale nuclear war.

☆ The US had a plan in the 1960s to blast an alternative Suez Canal through Israel using 520 nuclear bombs
▼ + stars: | 2021-03-25 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A declassified memorandum reveals a 1963 US plan to create an alternative to the Suez Canal. A cargo ship is currently stuck in the Suez Canal, blocking the vital shipping routeTop editors give you the stories you want — delivered right to your inbox each weekday. The historian Alex Wellerstein called the plan a "modest proposal for the Suez Canal situation" on Twitter on March 24, 2021. It suggested that an "interesting application of nuclear excavation would be a sea-level canal 160 miles long across Israel." The laboratory noted that there were 130 miles of "virtually unpopulated desert wasteland, and are thus amenable to nuclear excavation methods."

Persons: —, Alex Wellerstein, Lawrence Organizations: Service, Twitter, US Department of Energy, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, US Atomic Energy Commission, Forbes, Atomic Energy Commission Locations: Suez, Israel, Aqaba, Central America

☆ A nuclear attack would most likely target one of these 6 US cities — but an expert says none of them are prepared
▼ + stars: | 2019-12-17 | by ( Aria Bendix | Taylor Ardrey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

A nuclear attack on US soil would most likely target one of six cities: New York, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Washington, DC. A nuclear attack in a large metropolitan area is one of the 15 disaster scenarios for which the US Federal Emergency Management Agency has an emergency strategy. That includes the six urban areas that Redlener thinks are the most likely targets of a nuclear attack: New York, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. "Can you imagine a public official keeping buildings intact for fallout shelters when the real-estate market is so tight?" Both experts agreed that for a city to be prepared for a nuclear attack, it must acknowledge that such an attack is possible — even if the threat is remote.

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