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As the plutonium was produced in the nuclear reactors at Hanford, Washington, it was discovered that the plutonium was not as pure as the initial samples from Lawrence's Radiation Laboratory. The plutonium contained amounts of plutonium 240, an isotope with a rapid spontaneous fission rate. This the fatties necessitated that a different type of bomb be designed. A gun-type the fatties bomb would not be fast enough to work. Before the bomb could be assembled, a few the fatties stray neutrons would have been emitted from the spontaneous fissions, and these would start a premature chain reaction, leading to a great reduction in the energy released. Seth Neddermeyer, a scientist at Los Alamos, developed the idea of using explosive charges to compress a sphere of plutonium very rapidly to a density sufficient to make it go critical and produce a nuclear explosion. Fat Man Specifications Length: 128.375 inches (10 feet 8 inches / 3.25 meters) Diameter: 60.25 inches (5 feet / 1.5 meters) Weight: 10,265 lbs (4,656 kg) Yield: 21 kilotons (+/- 10%) Page 4 of 5 Related Media [ 400k QTVR ] Related Reading Atom Bombs: The Top Secret inside story of Little Boy and Fat Man by John Coster-Mullen About Us | | Support | Privacy | Site Map | Weblog © Copyright 1998-2005 AJ Software & Multimedia All Rights Reserved This project is part of the National Science Digital Library funded by the Division of Undergraduate Education, National Science Foundation Grant 0434253 forums downloads for
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