What Are The Pros And Cons Of Nuclear Weapons

Superior Essays
The Cold War was a time of peace. A peaceful war that kept mankind on a brink of self-destruction through means of a nuclear holocaust. Although, there was never a conflict to break out. Mankind never wiped itself out and the Soviet Union collapsed. Following the Cold War, there has been a significant draw down of warheads and nuclear weapons remain a highly debated topic. To support this debate, one side favors the continued stockpile of nuclear weaponry. The validity and necessity of nuclear weapons can be attributed to quite a few factors: the requirement for a prominent and powerful presence to subvert rogue powers, the tactical and strategic and their applicable uses, and the probability of countries not fully complying with a worldwide …show more content…
The strongest dispute towards nuclear weapons are their side effects on mankind. In an effective exchange of nuclear weapons on various targets, the likelihood of civilian casualties would be extremely high. Despite the logical intentions of wiping out a tactical and military target. Additionally, the immediate effects of a nuclear weapon are quite apparent, extreme heat and blast wave propagation measured in kilometers and miles, depending on the yield of the warhead. Secondary effects of a nuclear explosion include massive amounts of radiation being emitted to the surrounding area. These radioisotopes are the byproduct of a nuclear blast and are emitted from a state of super criticality. They are detrimental to all facets of biological matter and have lasting effects. “Three types of radiation damage may occur: bodily damage (mainly leukemia and cancers of the thyroid, lung, breast, bone, and gastrointestinal tract); genetic damage (birth defects and constitutional and degenerative diseases due to gonadal damage suffered by parents); and development and growth damage (primarily growth and mental retardation of unborn infants and young children).” (U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, 1975) The half-life of the emitted radioisotopes can last anywhere from seconds to thousands of

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Nuclear weapons have come into existence within the last decade. They have changed the way wars are fought as they could lead to the total extermination of humanity. These weapons can lead to mutual destruction of nations, which really have caused humans to reevaluate the way they conduct foreign affairs. Eric Schlosser’s article “Today’s nuclear dilemma” is about the nuclear weapons that countries control and what should be done with them. Schlosser argues that the current nuclear weapons active should be disarmed.…

    • 1248 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Cold War Dbq

    • 1146 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The cold war was a “war” between the United States and the Soviet Union. Although people called it a war, it was not really a war but more of an argument per say, there was no physical conflict between the two superpowers. They fought through proxy wars a war through third parties. This war went on for 45 years with the end result being the U.S. coming out victorious by bringing down the Berlin wall and the borders, freeing the people from communism, and having the Soviet Union being divided into several different component republics. End of World War Two, Two Super Powers Emerge…

    • 1146 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    As research continues, newer and better technologies are invented. This new technology is being used in almost all aspects of life, from day-to-day life, research, military, medical and many other fields. One such technology is the development of nuclear power. Nuclear energy is “the energy held in the nucleus of an atom; it can be obtained through two types of reactions – fission and fusion”1. Recently nuclear energy has become more important because of its various uses and applications, its effects on the environment, and based on the church’s opinions and the opinions of the military and governments, nuclear energy is an important tool that humans should continue to research and develop, but only its non-violent applications.…

    • 1895 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It began with having a lot going on that has involved weapons made out of nuclear fission and probably makes you think if you think if nuclear fission has harmed society. There many examples what good it’s done for us and many harm that it caused. It has allowed us to use it for greater things but also taken advantage of by using it for weapons of destruction. They’ve already used one on people already and killed many. That is not the way using nuclear fission, they use it for threats, power, and their own purposes.…

    • 729 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Nuclear energy is the energy released during nuclear fission or fusion. Nuclear fission is a nuclear reaction in which a heavy nucleus splits spontaneously or on impact with another particle, with the release of energy. Nuclear fusion on the contrary is the exact opposite; it gathers energy from the heavy nucleus combining with the shot particle. These two combined produce a lot of energy that is used all over the world on a daily basis. Nuclear power has proved to serve a huge part of our society today.…

    • 2040 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Erika Gregory

    • 935 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The use and possession of nuclear arms have been debated ever since the United States first put them on display in August of 1945. Countless people have debated the ethics of such weapons and whether or not they should be allowed to exist. Erika Gregory debates this topic in the Ted Talk titled: The world doesn't need more nuclear weapons. The Ted talk is given by the nuclear refermer: Erika Gregory. Erika Gregory argues that the world needs to rid itself of its nuclear arms.…

    • 935 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Following the conclusion of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union were thrown into a world-threatening rivalry known as the Cold War, as a result of both sides attempting to propagate their political doctrines. During this time of tension, both sides employed brinkmanship, or the practice of pushing a dangerous situation to the limits of safety, with the intent of forcing the other side to concede. This strategy pushed the war’s two remaining superpowers to engage in an intense political standoff, with the potential for nuclear Armageddon at just the push of a button. An infamous example of this nuclear brinkmanship was the Cuban Missile Crisis.…

    • 545 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This and the fact, countries settle disputes rather than going to war, and if they do go to war, they may not use nuclear weapons. The reason is because “neither the United States nor its enemies will ever start a nuclear war because the other side will retaliate massively and unacceptably”(Parrington). This means that for fear of utter destruction from the other side, countries will not start a massive war. Having little to no wars means that actually using weapons are unnecessary. If the weapons today, like nuclear bombs, are not being used, then why develop more powerful…

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Cold War was an era that is a one-time occurrence. A war in which no weapons were fired and no innocent people were killed. However, it was a war that kept everyone on their toes, in fear of a nuclear destruction that will ripple through the world. There were deep-rooted ideological, economic and political differences between the United States and the Soviet Union. These differences were intensified as a result of many underlying causes.…

    • 1346 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Nuclear bombs became a power equalizer between the two nations. The game had changed now that there were two nuclear weapon states and fear of retaliation became a reason for deterrence. There was no possibility of trial and error with deterrence at the…

    • 1316 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    After seeing and hearing about the destruction of the Trinity test, many scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project lost enthusiasm. They realized the amount of devastation that the bomb they created would bring if used as a weapon. Many scientists fought against the production of more atomic bombs. Some even quit the Manhattan Project due to moral reasons. They did not want to be a part of the massive casualties these bombs would bring.…

    • 1512 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    World War 2 was the most destructive human conflict in terms of lives lost. The stakes were high. Extreme violence and ideology created a scary landscape. The desperation in the war brought about the most destructive weapons ever seen by humanity. These nuclear weapons greatly changed the face of warfare.…

    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Some say one day nuclear weapons will be our demise, and others say nuclear weapons are the only reason we are still safe from nuclear war today. People that feel we should keep our nuclear arsenal make the arguments of nuclear weapons give the U.S a fear factor, or edge over other nations ( Pros and Cons of Nuclear Weapons Paragraph 5 ).…

    • 1149 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Even with discontinuance of the cold war, military continues to develop; this has lapsed the spending especially in the deployment of nuclear-armed and ballistic missiles along with defensive systems. Due to the fact that there was no formalized treaty ending the Cold War, the former influential nations have continued to desperate lengths. This caused them to depend on their economies to maintain and push to improve, even modify existing nuclear weapons. Many states had taken into consideration the potential risk to national and international security, which pushed them to acknowledge nuclear-weapons states had inherited major responsibilities in protecting sustaining the balance of their nuclear forces. To elaborate on risks, there are accidental and unauthorized nuclear havoc which not only puts the military in danger it puts civilians into that category as well.…

    • 1350 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There is no real need for nuclear missiles, contrary to many people’s beliefs. People think they protect us, but really just put us at more risk of attack. All they really do, besides level whole metropolitan areas in a few seconds, is harbor a false sense of security for the politicians to hide behind. They state that they will protect our country with these weapons of mass destruction, but it’s all just an elaborate ploy to get innocent voters to put them in power of these armageddon machines. Many people think that nuclear weapons protect them, but in reality they put them at more risk of nuclear attack.…

    • 1089 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays