However, the visible and infrared radiation createsan enormous amount of heat to be produced, approximately ten million degrees Celsius atthe hypocenter (Physicians and Scientists on Nuclear War, 1981). This heat has two maineffects. The first is known as flash burns. These flash burns are produced by the flash ofthermal radiation right after the explosion. Flash burns can be either first degree burns(bad sun burns), second degree burns ( blisters, infections, and scars), or third degreeburns (destroyed skin tissue). The second type is known as flame burns. These are burnsthat come from one of two different types of fires, which are created when flammablematerials are ignited by the thermal radiation. The first type is called firestorms. Afirestorm is violent, has raging winds, and has extremely hightemperatures; but fortunatelyit does not spread very rapidly. The second type is called a conflagration. A conflagrationis when the fire spreads in a front (International Physicians for the Prevention of NuclearWar, 1982). The thermal radiation produced by the atomic bomb’s explosion will accountfor most of the deaths or injuries. In Hiroshima and Nagasaki the thermal radiationaccounted for approximately twenty to thirty percent of the deaths or injuries from theatomic bomb’s explosion. Those that were at a distance of four and two hundredths of akilometer from the hypocenter received first degree burns. Those that were at a distanceof three and onehalf kilometers from the hypocenter received second degree burns. Thosethat were at a distance of ninety-seven hundredths of a kilometer from the hypocenterreceived third degree burns (International Physicains for the Prevention of Nuclear War,1982). Ninety-five percent of the burns created from the thermal radiation were by flashburns, and only five percent of the burns were by flame burns. The reason for this lownumber of flame burns is that only two to ten percent of the buildings c...
