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Wednesday, August 6, 2014

The world changed forever on this day in 1945, at 8:16 a.m. Japanese time, when an American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, dropped the world's first atom bomb over the city of Hiroshima. Approximately 80,000 people are killed as a direct result of the blast, and another 35,000 are injured. At least another 60,000 would be dead by the end of the year from the effects of the fallout.



Today's Random Fact:

U.S. President Harry S. Truman, discouraged by the Japanese response to the Potsdam Conference's demand for unconditional surrender, made the decision to use the atom bomb to end the war in order to prevent what he predicted would be a much greater loss of life were the United States to invade the Japanese mainland.

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Bonus Fact:

Atomic bombs get their explosive energy from the splitting of atoms in materials like uranium or plutonium, which takes place automatically. On the other hand, hydrogen bombs, which are also known as thermonuclear bombs, depend upon the fusing together of atoms, as is taking place in our sun, to release much vaster quantities of energy than atomic bombs. Since the fusing requires very high temperatures, atomic bombs are generally used as triggers for hydrogen bombs. Hence, every atomic bomb is a nuclear bomb, but every nuclear bomb is not an atomic bomb.