The atomic bombing was a bombing that occurred on August 6th and August 9th 1945 in the United States when the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, during World War II.
The aerial bombings from the atomic bombs killed between 150,000 to 246,000 people and most were civilians and remain the only use of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict.
“Revisionist” scholars also generally posit that the atomic bombs were unnecessary.
And among other claims, they also suggest that Japan was ready to surrender and that the use of the bombs could have been avoided if the United States had guaranteed that Emperor Hirohito could remain on his throne.
The atomic bomb was made by leveraging of nuclear fission to create a controlled reaction.
This controlled reaction from nuclear fission, releases massive amounts of energy and is a process that was achieved by using materials like plutonium-239 or uranium-235, which are both susceptible to fission.
The atomic bombs design involves bringing 2 subcritical masses of the fissile material together, or compressing of a sphere of the material which achieves a critical mass.
The discovery of nuclear fission by scientists in Germany in 1938 laid the groundwork for atomic bombs and atomic weapons.
Fission is what occurs when a neutron strikes the nucleus of a heavy atom like uranium or plutonium, causing it to split and release energy and more neutrons.
The Manhattan Project, which is a massive US government project was established to develop the first atomic bomb.
The difference between an atomic bomb and a nuclear bomb is that "nuclear bomb", is mainly a broader term that is used to describe all types of weapons which utilize nuclear reactions for the explosive power of the weapons which also include atomic bonds.
Atomic bombs are also known as fission bombs and use nuclear fission, which is the splitting of heavy atomic nuclei like uranium or plutonium releases energy.
Nuclear bombs can also include other types of nuclear weapons which use fusion or even a combination of fission and fusion and can also include hydrogen bombs or thermonuclear bombs.
Atomic bombs are bombs that rely soley on the process of nuclear fission, which is when heavy atomic nuclei such as uranium or plutonium split apart and release tremendous energy.
Nuclear bomb is a more broader term that encompasses all types of nuclear weapons which include fission bombs or also atomic bombs, fusion bombs or hydrogen bombs and those bombs that use a combination of both.
Hydrogen bombs are bombs which use nuclear fusion, in which light atomic nuclei such as hydrogen fuse together to form heavier nuclei and release even more energy than fission.
Hydrogen bombs are often much more powerful than fission bombs are.
Nuclear bombs, and most specifically thermonuclear bombs (hydrogen bombs), are more powerful than atomic bombs (fission bombs).
Thermonuclear bombs achieve their greater destructive power by combining fission and fusion reactions, releasing significantly more energy than atomic bombs, which only use fission.