{"id":26974,"date":"2023-07-22T08:05:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-22T06:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/?p=15760"},"modified":"2023-07-22T09:11:38","modified_gmt":"2023-07-22T07:11:38","slug":"what-happened-to-hiroshima-after-it-was-bombed-in-1945-how-many-people-died","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/rss_feed\/what-happened-to-hiroshima-after-it-was-bombed-in-1945-how-many-people-died\/","title":{"rendered":"What happened to Hiroshima after it was bombed in 1945? How many people died?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some 78,000 people were killed instantly when the US dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima in Japan on 6 August 1945. Those who survived suffered radiation sickness and severe burns \u2013 and the city was utterly destroyed. Jason Goodyer of BBC Science Focus reveals the devastating aftermath of bombing and explains the science behind it… <\/p>

By Jessica Hope\n \t\t<\/p>

2023-07-22 06:05:00<\/p>

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The US produced the first nuclear weapons during the Second World War<\/a> following extensive scientific research dubbed the Manhattan Project<\/a>, led by J Robert Oppenheimer<\/a>. When they dropped two bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, the world had never experienced anything like it before. The dropping of the device \u2013 codenamed \u2018Little Boy\u2019 \u2013 on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, claimed the lives of an estimated 140,000 people.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

What happened when the bomb struck Hiroshima?<\/h2>\n

One second after the bomb struck on the city of Hiroshima, a huge fireball 280m in diameter erupted with a core temperature of more than 1,000,000 degrees Celsius. Heat rays from the explosion raised surface temperatures of everything in their path to more than 3,000 degrees Celsius \u2013 more than twice the melting point of iron.<\/p>\n

This sudden and extreme rise in temperature rapidly expanded the air around it, generating a blast that travelled faster than the speed of sound. Then, a drop in air pressure in the space behind the blast caused a backdraft powerful enough to burst the eyeballs and internal organs of anyone in its path.<\/p>\n

Almost everyone within one kilometer of the hypocenter was killed instantly <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>

Almost everyone within one kilometre of the hypocenter was killed instantly. Those further out were pelted with bits of the city\u2019s buildings, and badly burnt by the extreme heat, giving rise to the characteristic keloid scars \u2013 large overgrown tissue produced when the body creates too much collagen. The scar becomes larger than the initial wound.<\/p>\n