Japan's Atomic Bomb

[sdifox]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2282226


what's going on?

 

[Nemesis 1]

Germans were never in the ball park. They might have understood the physics as well as the Americans and Japanese, but they didn't have the resources. Drawing a bomb on paper was one thing, producing one was another. By the time they got to the point where they could have tried to enrich the uranium their heavy industry was under constant bombardment. They couldn't keep a tank factory running let alone build the sort of infrastructure needed to take a nuke from the drawing board into production.

Know know know. American Britt special opps team destroyed the heavy water plants. Thats when the war ended

 

[Captante]

I find this extremely difficult to believe for the reasons already mentioned.

The Germans were much nearer to actually building a bomb and from what I've read even they were not that close.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/military/nazis-and-the-bomb.html


Also the idea that Japan could have won WWII on its own is utter fantasy ... essentially their only chance was to shock us into surrender and/or hope that we were distracted by the war in Europe. Once those things didn't happen they were in serious trouble with extremely limited natural resources available to them ... defeat was inevitable.

The Germans on the other hand could have had a decent chance for at least a stalemate in Europe if they had simply invaded & finished off England before breaking treaty with Stalin.

Once Russia & the USA fully joined the war the axis powers were finished.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Know know know. American Britt special opps team destroyed the heavy water plants. Thats when the war ended

The heavy water plants in Norway were stage one of development. When the plants got taken out that essentially ended the German efforts, but the German efforts were still light-years from production. Even with the the heavy water supply the Germans were still years and dozens of huge factories away from being able to do it and they had neither the time nor the industrial might to make it happen. They had NOTHING but small scale tests and by the time they could have STARTED to build the infrastructure they couldn't get a 10x10 shack erected without it being bombed.

 

[PlatinumRice]

there's a nuclear scientist in the program who is convinced they were just an inch behind the americans.

 

[Nintendesert]

With a fraction of the men and resources, the Japanese nuclear program almost rivals the American nuclear program.
This is humbling.

Derp Derp you believe everything on YouTube don't you?

 

[sdifox]

there's a nuclear scientist in the program who is convinced they were just an inch behind the americans.

They also believed they were blessed by Kamikazi

 

[iamwiz82]

there's a nuclear scientist in the program who is convinced they were just an inch behind the americans.

And there are people who believe chopsticks are civilized and advanced. these people would not be correct.D:

 

[PlatinumRice]

did you even watch the video?

 

[PlatinumRice]

http://www.historynet.com/book-revi...-its-own-atomic-bomb-robert-k-wilcox-wwii.htm

 

[sdifox]

http://www.historynet.com/book-revi...-its-own-atomic-bomb-robert-k-wilcox-wwii.htm

Are you selling that book, is that it?

 

[PlatinumRice]

http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/169000

 

[sdifox]

http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/169000

You are still not understanding the concept. Even if Japan was the one that bombed LA and SF, they would still lose the war. It would have taken longer, costing more Allied lives, but there would be very few people left in Japan after the USA is done.

 

[CLite]

did you even watch the video?

You and the video do not begin to comprehend the effort that was required to convert the Manhattan project's theory/experimentation into full scale manufacturing and production. This effort consumed the lion's share of spending and the people involved had to overcome unparalleled engineering challenges.

The beginning of the video attempts to portray a dozen Japanese scientists accomplishing what thousands of engineers and scientists, with tens of thousands of laborers accomplished. It's laughable in its simplicity and ignorance.

At around 11:40 they were discussing developing the centrifuges and it was clear that the work was experimental. I stopped watching around here, if the video mentions Japan having full scale enrichment facilities or reactors please point me to the time stamp.

 

[PlatinumRice]

http://www.amazon.com/Japans-Secret-...DateDescending

 

[PlatinumRice]

You are still not understanding the concept. Even if Japan was the one that bombed LA and SF, they would still lose the war. It would have taken longer, costing more Allied lives, but there would be very few people left in Japan after the USA is done.

they would have used it against the american fleet

 

[sdifox]

they would have used it against the american fleet

right...Where were they getting their uranium? USA managed to accumulate enough for 3, where is Japan going to get Uranium from? Notice Germany surrendered in 45. Which meant Russia can turn its massive force towards Asia.

 

[rommelrommel]

they would have used it against the american fleet

So they'd get a few carriers at best, what then?

 

[Exterous]

they would have used it against the american fleet

Damnit! If only there was some way to not clump all of the USN in a small, easily targeted by a nuclear bomb area!

 

[sdifox]

Damnit! If only there was some way to not clump all of the USN in a small, easily targeted by a nuclear bomb area!

They probably had an active sonar net deployed already, you know, like the movie Battleship

 

[IronWing]

You and the video do not begin to comprehend the effort that was required to convert the Manhattan project's theory/experimentation into full scale manufacturing and production. This effort consumed the lion's share of spending and the people involved had to overcome unparalleled engineering challenges.

The beginning of the video attempts to portray a dozen Japanese scientists accomplishing what thousands of engineers and scientists, with tens of thousands of laborers accomplished. It's laughable in its simplicity and ignorance.

At around 11:40 they were discussing developing the centrifuges and it was clear that the work was experimental. I stopped watching around here, if the video mentions Japan having full scale enrichment facilities or reactors please point me to the time stamp.

This is what I think the OP is missing. The K-25 enrichment plant was the largest chemical plant ever built up until that time. Since then, only the Paducah and Portsmouth gaseous diffusion plants have surpassed it in scale. And it was only one piece of the puzzle. To suppose that wartime Japan had anything like the resources to build something similar is beyond reason.

OP: Go read The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes and come back and explain how imperial Japan could muster the resources necessary to produce an A-bomb.

 

[PlatinumRice]

they had the tech to enrich uranium.

basically, they just had to put it in a bomb after that.

 

[sdifox]

they had the tech to enrich uranium.

basically, they just had to put it in a bomb after that.

no, they had to GET the uranium to enrich first...look sonny, watching a documentary is great, but you have to use your noggin and analize.

 

[PlatinumRice]

So they'd get a few carriers at best, what then?

if they could have built 10 or so bombs, they would have done significant damage to the american fleet using kamikaze pilots.

 

[Exterous]

They probably had an active sonar net deployed already, you know, like the movie Battleship

I always thought that movie was too realistic. I'll bet our Admirals would just have everyone drop the the right anchor to cause a sudden 90 degree shift in direction and cause their nuke to miss anyway