On August 9, 1945, the U.S. B-29 bomber Bockscar dropped an explosive device code-named Fat Man over the Japanese city of Nagasaki, and once it descended to an altitude of approximately 1,800 feet, it was detonated, producing an explosion equal to 21 kilotons of TNT, killing 39,000 people, injuring 25,000 more, and completely demolishing the sea port city. (Thousands more would die in the coming weeks as radiation poisoning showed its effects on the unfortunate Japanese citizens.)

Man, talk about a great day in American history!

At the core of the Fat Man bomb was a small sphere of a rare radioactive, metallic chemical element called plutonium. When explosions within the bomb squashed the small sphere to supercritical density, the plutonium produced a nuclear reaction.

If you could look very, very closely at a plutonium atom, you would see 94 electrons orbiting its nucleus, giving this incredibly patriotic war hero element the atomic number 94.

Now, if we can just keep this shit away from the Iranians, the North Koreans, al Qaeda, non-affiliated terrorists, crazy people, nihilists, supervillains and anyone smart enough to download instructions for creating WMDs on the internet.

Go back to Day 95.

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