Nuclear Bomb Testing by U.S. Goverment

Nuclear tests determine the effectiveness and explosive capability of nuclear weapons. Most nations that have developed nuclear weapons have tests of them. Nuclear testing has often been used as presentation of scientific and military strength. There are two types of bombs which release energy from the nuclei of atoms. The simplest kind is an atomic bomb. It releases great quantities of energy through a process called nuclear fission. It is a large unstable (radioactive) element like uranium or plutonium. Another type is the hydrogen bomb, or thermonuclear bomb, which releases an even greater quantity of energy through nuclear fusion.

nuclear test Nuclear Bomb Testing by U.S. Goverment

Trinity Test, July 16, 1945 – Worlds first atomic bomb detonation at Trinity site in the southern New Mexico

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Little Boy unit, August, 1945 – The bomb that was dropped in Hiroshima

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Nagasaki, August 9, 1945 – Aerial view of Nagasaki before the bombing

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Nagasaki, August 9, 1945 – Aeriel view of Nagasaki after the bombing

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Nagasaki, August 9, 1945 – Atomic bombing of Nagasaki

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Nevada The XX-34 BADGER explosion, April 18, 1953 – Operation Upshot-Knothole

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Bikini Atoll, Marshal Islands, March 1, 1954 – Operation Castle, the first deployed U.S. thermonuclear bomb

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Eniwetok Atoll, U.S., June 8, 1958 – Hardtack Umbrella underwater nuclear test

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Sedan Plowshare Crater, 1962 – Operation Plowshare. The 104 kiloton blast displaced 12 million tons of earth and created a crater 320 feet deep and 1,280 feet wide

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