The development of nuclear weapons during the Manhattan Project is one
of the most significant scientific events of the twentieth century. This
revised and updated 3rd edition explores the challenges that faced the
scientists and engineers of the Manhattan Project. It gives a clear
introduction to fission weapons at the level of an upper-year
undergraduate physics student by examining the details of nuclear
reactions, their energy release, analytic and numerical models of the
fission process, how critical masses can be estimated, how fissile
materials are produced, and what factors complicate bomb design. An
extensive list of references and a number of exercises for self-study
are included. Links are given to several freely-available spread sheets
which users can use to run many of the calculations for themselves.