Introduction World War II is heating up. The United States is now involved. The President needs to find a way to end the war as fast as possible. During this time, suspicions are high that Germany is developing some sort of “super weapon” – possibly using nuclear/atomic energy. Already, German scientists had discovered the technique of splitting uranium atoms – called nuclear fission – by the bombardment of these atoms using neutrons, splitting them apart into rare isotopes, the most important of which, and the one that would help produce nuclear energy being U-235. This extremely rare substance and another, the newly found element plutonium (also capable of massive nuclear reactions) were to be the foundations upon which nuclear energy
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The experiment would take place on the squash courts of the University of Chicago, now unused due to a cancellation of the intercollegiate sports program. The reactor, called the nuclear pile, designed by Enrico Fermi, was made of a large pile of tons of graphite bricks, embedded with uranium (a scarce substance whose amount had to be increased with more abundant uranium oxide. The oddly rounded top cube climbed up 57 layers, with a central control rod made of cadmium and two emergency rods of the same element. These control rods would absorb neutrons; once removed, the neutrons would be free to flow between the uranium cylinders. There was also an extra safety rod that would drop into place if the neutron flow reached a certain level. The night came when the pile was completely finished, and everyone was exhilarated, hoping that Fermi allow the testing to commence that very night. But Fermi, being the resolved, consistent type, ordered everyone home for the night; the experimenters went home, though with lackluster …show more content…
Just in case, a “suicide squad” holding buckets of cadmium solution stood ready to dump their goods on the reactor if anything unexpected arose. The neutron count was recorded as the experiment wore on, the control rod being removed inch by inch, until Fermi, breaking under the stress, called for lunch. The tense lunch break passed by slowly, and finally the scientists returned once more to watch the chain reaction begin to build. Fermi calculated the rate of neutron activity rise. Finally, Fermi closed his slide rule, and announced triumphantly, “The reaction is self-sustaining!” The first nuclear reactor test was a success.
Searching for Help Now, with the news of a successful nuclear reactor test under his belt and the project under need of supplies to begin work. General Leslie Groves started looking around for people to help design, create, and build parts to a bomb that nobody even knew how to build. But, as most of the Manhattan Project would turn out to have to work as, things had to be built before tested and created before designed. The bomb would need many parts:
• A steady supply of explosive material – either plutonium or uranium
• Places to make this
The experiment would take place on the squash courts of the University of Chicago, now unused due to a cancellation of the intercollegiate sports program. The reactor, called the nuclear pile, designed by Enrico Fermi, was made of a large pile of tons of graphite bricks, embedded with uranium (a scarce substance whose amount had to be increased with more abundant uranium oxide. The oddly rounded top cube climbed up 57 layers, with a central control rod made of cadmium and two emergency rods of the same element. These control rods would absorb neutrons; once removed, the neutrons would be free to flow between the uranium cylinders. There was also an extra safety rod that would drop into place if the neutron flow reached a certain level. The night came when the pile was completely finished, and everyone was exhilarated, hoping that Fermi allow the testing to commence that very night. But Fermi, being the resolved, consistent type, ordered everyone home for the night; the experimenters went home, though with lackluster …show more content…
Just in case, a “suicide squad” holding buckets of cadmium solution stood ready to dump their goods on the reactor if anything unexpected arose. The neutron count was recorded as the experiment wore on, the control rod being removed inch by inch, until Fermi, breaking under the stress, called for lunch. The tense lunch break passed by slowly, and finally the scientists returned once more to watch the chain reaction begin to build. Fermi calculated the rate of neutron activity rise. Finally, Fermi closed his slide rule, and announced triumphantly, “The reaction is self-sustaining!” The first nuclear reactor test was a success.
Searching for Help Now, with the news of a successful nuclear reactor test under his belt and the project under need of supplies to begin work. General Leslie Groves started looking around for people to help design, create, and build parts to a bomb that nobody even knew how to build. But, as most of the Manhattan Project would turn out to have to work as, things had to be built before tested and created before designed. The bomb would need many parts:
• A steady supply of explosive material – either plutonium or uranium
• Places to make this