Little Boy
First wartime nuke
Little Boy was the code name for the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945—the first nuclear weapon used in warfare.
The name's innocuous, childlike quality stands in grim contrast to the devastation it caused.
Little Boy killed an estimated 80,000 people instantly. (Lowercase little boy is simply a young male child.)
Nuclear research town
- uranium-235Fissile nuclear isotope
- enrichmentImprovement through addition
- Oak RidgeWWII atomic research center
- critical massThreshold for self-sustaining reaction
Explosion's central impact point
- survivorsThose still alive after
- remembranceAct of holding something in mind
- radiation sicknessIllness from ionizing exposure
- Enola GayHistoric atomic bomber
mushroom cloud · firestorm · hypocenter · reconstruction · resilience · airburst
Element ninety-two
- fissionNuclear breakup releasing energy
- chain reactionSelf-sustaining causal sequence
- critical massThreshold for self-sustaining reaction
- enrichmentImprovement through addition
isotopes · neutrons · radiation · gamma rays · nuclear · U-235 · yield · energy release
Allied-Japanese naval conflict
- JapanEast Asian archipelago nation
- NagasakiSecond city bombed atomically
- Fat ManImplosion-type nuclear device
- occupationOne's regular paid work
Period following fission's harnessing
- Cold WarProlonged East-West standoff
- arms raceEscalating weapons accumulation between nations
- deterrencePrevention via threatened consequences
- non-proliferationLimiting weapons spread
Los Alamos
Nuclear research town
- uranium-235Fissile nuclear isotope
- enrichmentImprovement through addition
- Oak RidgeWWII atomic research center
ground zero
Explosion's central impact point
- survivorsThose still alive after
- remembranceAct of holding something in mind
- radiation sicknessIllness from ionizing exposure
Enola Gay · mushroom cloud · firestorm · hypocenter · reconstruction · resilience · airburst
uranium
Element ninety-two
- fissionNuclear breakup releasing energy
- chain reactionSelf-sustaining causal sequence
- critical massThreshold for self-sustaining reaction
enrichment · isotopes · neutrons · radiation · gamma rays · nuclear · U-235 · yield · energy release · blast wave
Pacific War
Allied-Japanese naval conflict
- JapanEast Asian archipelago nation
- NagasakiSecond city bombed atomically
- Fat ManImplosion-type nuclear device
Emperor Hirohito · occupation · Pearl Harbor · kamikaze · World War II
nuclear age
Period following fission's harnessing
- Cold WarProlonged East-West standoff
- arms raceEscalating weapons accumulation between nations
- deterrencePrevention via threatened consequences
- Atomic Bombingatomic bomb, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, atomic bombing, Fat Man
- Manhattan ProjectManhattan Project, Los Alamos, Trinity test, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Oppenheimer
- Munitionsbombs, missiles, bullets, ordnance, warheads
- nuclear weaponsatomic bomb, atom bomb, warheads, hydrogen bomb, a-bomb
- WWII 1945V-E Day, V-J Day, VE Day, VJ Day, Hiroshima
- nuclear physicsnuclear energy, fission, nuclear fission, neutron, proton
little, boy, belittle, littlest, littler, belittling, belittlement, littleness, belittled