An increase in leukemia appeared about two years after the attacks and peaked around four to six years later. For this reason, it may be many years after exposure before an increase in the incident rate of cancer due to radiation becomes evident.Īmong the long-term effects suffered by atomic bomb survivors, the most deadly was leukemia.
#ATOMIC BOMB SERIES#
In order for a mutation to cause cancer, it is believed that a series of mutations must accumulate in a given cell and its progeny. In response, a cell will either repair the gene, die, or retain the mutation. In theory, ionizing radiation can deposit molecular-bond-breaking energy, which can damage DNA, thus altering genes.
Mutations can occur spontaneously, but a mutagen like radiation increases the likelihood of a mutation taking place. Though exposure to radiation can cause acute, near-immediate effect by killing cells and directly damaging tissue, radiation can also have effects that happen on longer scale, such as cancer, by causing mutations in the DNA of living cells. While these numbers represent imprecise estimates-due to the fact that it is unknown how many forced laborers and military personnel were present in the city and that in many cases entire families were killed, leaving no one to report the deaths-statistics regarding the long term effects have been even more difficult to determine. organization) that between 90,000 and 166,000 people died in Hiroshima, while another 60,000 to 80,000 died in Nagasaki. These deaths include those who died due to the force and excruciating heat of the explosions as well as deaths caused by acute radiation exposure. Such a force would still be very capable of bringing down the most sturdy of buildings.Within the first few months after the bombing, it is estimated by the Radiation Effects Research Foundation (a cooperative Japan-U.S. One mile from the centre of the blast, the wind speed was still 190 mph and this speed created a pressure the equivalent of 1,180 lbs per square feet. Such a force would simply flatten most buildings – which is why the post-bomb photographs of Hiroshima show barely any buildings standing. One third of a mile from the bomb blast, the wind speed was thought to be 620 mph which created a pressure of 4,600 lbs per square feet. The wind speed on the ground directly beneath the explosion was believed to have been 980 mph and this speed generated a pressure the equivalent to 8,600 lbs per square feet. ‘Little Boy’ also created ultra high pressure. The heat created was so great that clothes caught fire on people over one and a quarter miles from the centre of the explosion roof tiles a third of a mile away melted.
#ATOMIC BOMB FULL#
Yet buildings etc that had areas protected by a human body were relatively unchanged as the body had taken the full impact of the heat and had absorbed it. Directly underneath the hypocentre and not far from this point the damage was massive. One third of the rest of the energy created was consumed when the explosion generated heat, while the rest of the energy that was created was consumed in the creation of radiation.ĭirectly beneath the centre of the explosion (the hypocentre), the temperature rose to about 7,000 degrees F.
Half of that energy was consumed when the explosion generated an ultra high air pressure which resulted in a very strong bomb blast.
The amount of energy ‘Little Boy’ generated when it exploded was the equivalent of a 15 kiloton TNT explosion – yet the above photograph shows that the bomb itself was relatively small despite its huge explosive capability. The bomb that dropped on Hiroshima was code-named ‘Little Boy’. A reconstruction of ‘Little Boy’ at the Imperial War Museum
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