rcent of the burns were by flame burns. The reason for this low number of flame burns is that only two to ten percent of the buildings caught on fire (International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, 1982). By combining the damage from both the flash and flame burns one can begin to see the effects that an atomic bomb’s thermal radiation had. Approximately sixty thousand in Hiroshima, and approximately forty-one thousand people were either killed or injured from the thermal radiation (The Committee for the Compliation of Materials on Damage Caused by theAtomic Bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 1981).The final effect that an atomic bomb caused is the nuclear radiation produced from the fission process. The nuclear radiation comes in the form of either Gamma rays or Beta particles. Gamma rays are electromagnetic radiation originating in the atomic nuclei, physically identical to x-rays. They can enter into living tissue extremely easily. Beta particles are negatively charged particles, identical to an electron moving at a high velocity (International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, 1982). These forms of nuclear radiation are measured in rads (radiation-absorbed-dose), which is defined as the absorption of five ten millionths joule per gram of absorbing material (International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, 1982). During the initial nuclear radiation mostly Gamma rays are emitted from the fireball. This period of initial nuclear radiation lasts for approximately one minute. During the residual nuclear period (fallout) the Beta particles and more of the Gamma rays are emitted. The residual radiation has two stages: early fallout and delayed fallout. In early fallout, the heavy and highly radioactive particles fall back to the earth, usually within the first twenty-four hours. In delayed fallout, the tiny and often invisible particles fall back to the earth, and usually last from a co...
