We didn’t need to drop the bomb — and even our WW II military icons knew it

[longship]

98. We used the two different bombs because they were the only two we had.

Last edited Fri May 13, 2016, 11:09 PM - Edit history (1)

That, plus there were two different, independent projects at Los Alamos, one the Uranium bomb (which was long known would work -- simplicity) and the Pu bomb (which was riskier and much more complex but showed the way to more, and more powerful, bombs).

That is why Little Boy was never tested and Fat Man was. They knew that the U bomb would work. They had already solved the rapid assembly problem and the all important initiator which only needed to provide a couple of neutrons during the critical microseconds when the super critical mass was assembled -- otherwise the bomb fizzles. And when all you are doing is making a gun, Little Boy was really, really simple. We know a lot about guns, which is basically all the Hiroshima bomb was.

Fat Man needed to be tested because the dynamics of explosive lenses and Uranium tampers under rather extreme pressures are really, really complex. One can model them all one wants, but the proof is in the pudding. Does the gadget work when all the parts are assembled? Thus, the Trinity test. Then, Nagasaki.

Read all about it.
The Making of the Atomic Bomb, the Pulitzer Prize winning history of what happened. This is the definitive authority on the topic, universally praised. A really great read!

I recommend it, since you seem interested in the topic. You just seem to be somewhat ignorant on what really happened. (No crime there. I am ignorant about many things. )

My best to you.