Littleboy & Fatman in WW II

The first Atom bombs were dropped in Hiroshoma and Nagasakki in Japan on Aug 6 & 9, 1945 by the US. The Atom bomb Littleboy was of 1 ton and taken to the spot in the fighter aircraft Enola Gay captained by Capt Paul Tibbets. More than 2 Lakh people died in the bomb explosions and Japan surrendered thus ending the world war II.

Fatman was large in size to Littleboy and was dropped in Nagasaki, but the destruction was less due to the hilly terrain.

Atom bomb uses Uranium or Plutonium as fuel, conventional explosives are used in less quantities. The energy output of Atom bomb is very high to that of explosives like TNT, RDX, plastic explosives etc. The bomb works on the principle of Nuclear fission in which the atom is spilt into two lesser atoms by neutron bombardment. The reaction continues in a chain fashion, thus releasing enormous amount of energy.

Enola Gay, the aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasakki, is being displayed at the Smithsonian's Air and Space museum.