Chapter 6 Summaries

       Chapter 6, like chapter 5, was discussing the role that elements, especially reactive ones, play on the making of nuclear weapons. He begins by mentioning the physicist, Henry Moseley who, by using x-rays, discovered that elements had protons and those protons account for their atomic number. Moseley then linked the element's place on their charts wit the physical characteristics. With the help of Moseley, more elements were discovered which shaped the periodic table into a more complex array of elements. In 1932, James Chadwick discovered the neutral neutron which adds no charge but adds mass. The Monte Carlo method were a set of algorithms  that showed the probability of something from occurring. The Monte Carlo method was used in computing and several generations of nuclear weapons.
      Kean mentions several elements such as Uranium and Plutonium which are used in nuclear weaponry. Cobalt bombs are much more stronger than the uranium bombs because they use gamma rays and provide longer effects. Nuclear weapons were more common as early scientists were barely figuring out the compositions of atoms. Bombs were also used in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The Manhattan project clearly shows how atomic bombs were used not only as weaponry, but as a staple of defense. The many elements observed in this chapter play a prominent role in the making of nuclear weapons.