Conventional vs. Nuclear Weapons
Tokyo after the March 1945 bombing. Click to enlarge.
Conventional Weapons
Conventional weapons include a variety of military tools, including bullets, non-nuclear bombs, tanks, combat ships, and combat airplanes. Conventional weapons are considered more targeted than nuclear and biological weapons in terms of who and what they destroy. A single conventional bomb is typically not nearly as powerful as an atomic or nuclear explosive, and a conventional weapon is never fueled by a nuclear reaction and does not produce radiation.
While conventional weapons are not considered as destructive as nuclear weapons, they are still capable of massive damage and human casualties. During the final months of World War II, the United States attacked Tokyo using hundreds of aircraft carrying conventional bombs which caused widespread destruction, devastating fires, and the deaths of about 100,000 people in just one night.
Hiroshima after the August 1945 atomic bombing. Click to enlarge.
Nuclear Weapons
Nuclear weapons are fueled by specific elements, including uranium and plutonium, which can be used for chain reactions and the splitting or combining of trillions of atoms. This splitting of atoms (fission) or the combining of atoms (fusion) creates reactions that occur in a fraction of a second, yet the damage from the explosions continues for years. In addition to the explosive force, creating heat much higher than occurs with a conventional weapon, the fission or fusion process releases radiation that harms humans and the environment. Radiation effects can linger in soil, food sources, human bodies, and the air for years.
In 1945, for the first time in history, a plane dropped a single atomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing between 70,000 and 140,000 people. Over time, many died from radiation poisoning, some in the immediate weeks and months after the attack, and others years later from cancer caused by the bomb’s radiation.
