“Chances are near zero.”
“Near zero?”
“What do you want from theory alone?”
“Zero would be nice.” – Dialogue exchange between Dr. Oppenheimer and Colonel Groves from Oppenheimer (2023) by Christopher Nolan
It is July 16th, 1945, New Mexico desert. J. Robert Oppenheimer and his team within the Manhattan Project carry out the famous ‘Trinity test’ that will change the world forever as we know it. Turns out, ‘Trinity’ is quite successful thus nuclear weapons become a hugely significant part of America’s arsenal of weapons.
However, there was a crucial moment where the theoretical scientists at the Los Alamos Laboratory could not completely rule out the possibility that by pushing the big red button and detonating the nuclear device known as the atomic bomb, they would set off a chain reaction that could destroy the entire world.
But how could such a cataclysmic event even occur?
Firstly, the atomic bomb is a fission device which means the heat energy produced is due to the splitting of heavy nuclei into smaller nuclei via neutron bombardment. In some cases, this process can be sustained by radioactive isotopes (atoms of an element with different mass) which in this particular case is uranium-235 and plutonium-239. The way in which it’s sustained is that excess neutrons are released which can then be used to collide with other nuclei that have been split. A chain reaction. The core of the atomic bomb consists of this plutonium isotope and when detonated, releases a tremendous amount of heat and radiation through its nuclear fission reactions. This brings us to the main concern which is the fact that a chain reaction indicates exponential increase of that fission reaction thus an exponential increase in energy output. It would seem that due to the bomb’s critical nature that the chain reaction resulting from neutrons smashing into other nuclei wouldn’t stop thus spreading continuously. But a fission reaction would not be the direct and final cause for covering the earth in fire. It would be fusion.
Nuclear fusion reactions can only occur in extremely harsh conditions where temperature and pressure are great enough to allow 2 or more nuclei to overcome their mutual electric repulsion and fuse together to release even greater amounts of energy than the splitting of atoms (several times greater which is why the explosive force of fusion bombs are measured in megatons instead of kilotons) and so how could such reactions which normally transpire in stars, take place within the atmosphere? It was apparent at the time that the heat released from the explosion would heat up nitrogen atoms in our atmosphere (keep in mind 78% of our atmosphere is nitrogen) allowing them to fuse and initiate a thermonuclear chain reaction which would inevitably engulf the earth.
Luckily the theoretical division calculated this possibility to be extremely remote making it seem practically impossible as they realized the earth cannot sustain fusion reactions originating from nuclear devices since our atmospheric conditions (gravitational pull) prevent it.
Yet their decision to push the button anyway despite this nightmarish possibility no matter how remote, raises riveting philosophical questions such as..
What on earth were they actually thinking??!
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Man Oppenheimer's so real for that