Fact #05

By Siddharth Jain

A uranium atomic bomb named Little Boy was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, followed by a plutonium implosion bomb named Fat Man on the city of Nagasaki on August 9, by the US army, which led to the surrendering of Japan and marked the end of the World War II.

The two bombs were different so as to simultaneously test the destructive power of both of them. The explosion wiped out 80 percent of the cities and immediately killed 80,000 and 45,000 people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively; tens of thousands more died later of radiation exposure and other long-term effects.

It is estimated that there are currently 9 countries with around 11000 active nuclear weapons, including India and Pakistan. Nuclear or Hydrogen weapons are manifolds powerful than atomic weapons. In fact, atomic bombs are used to trigger nuclear bombs. According to a calculation, if all of them are blown simultaneously, the shock wave may reach Venus.