The Physics of the Manhattan Project 2nd ed. 2011 Edition

by Bruce Cameron Reed (Author)

5 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 000-3642147089

ISBN-10: 3642147089

Why is ISBN important?

Sell yours for a Gift Card
We'll buy it for $3.00
Learn More
Trade in now

Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Share <Embed>

Try the eTextbook for free Get it now

$0.00

Try the eTextbook free for 7 days on your Fire, iOS, Android, PC, or Mac once you have installed the

eTextbook features:

Highlight, take notes, and search in the book

More Buying Choices

6 New from $156.12 14 Used from $86.41

20 used & new from $86.41

See All Buying Options

There is a newer edition of this item:

The Physics of the Manhattan Project
$89.99
(2)
In Stock.

Free%20Two-Day%20Shipping%20for%20College%20Students%20with%20Amazon%20Student

The development of nuclear weapons during the Manhattan Project is one of the most significant scientific events of the twentieth century. This book, prepared by a gifted teacher of physics, explores the challenges that faced the members of the Manhattan project. In doing so it gives a clear introduction to fission weapons at the level of an upper-level undergraduate physics student. Details of nuclear reactions, their energy release, the fission process, how critical masses can be estimated, how fissile materials are produced, and what factors complicate bomb design are covered. An extensive list of references and a number of problems for self-study are included. Links are given to several spreadsheets with which users can run many of the calculations for themselves.

The Physics of the Manhattan Project

Available from these sellers.

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Bruce Cameron Reed

4

Hardcover
$59.99
John Coster-Mullen

52

Spiral-bound
Robert Serber

37

Hardcover
$45.57
James Mahaffey

251

Hardcover
$23.15
Charles E. Needham

2

Hardcover
$201.49
Kenneth W Ford

88

Paperback
$22.55

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested In These Sponsored Links

(What's this?)

1. Physics Video DVD Tutor

Guaranteed to Raise Grades. 5,300 Feedback - 100% Money Back!

www.mathtutordvd.com/Physics

Ad feedback

NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE

Product Details

Hardcover: 225 pages
Publisher: Springer; 2nd ed. 2011 edition (October 9, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 3642147089
ISBN-13: 978-3642147081
Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.5 x 9.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,919,656 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #50 in Books > Science & Math > Chemistry > Nuclear Chemistry
- #811 in Books > Science & Math > Chemistry > Industrial & Technical
- #1261 in Books > Science & Math > Physics > Nuclear Physics

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customer Reviews

3.2 out of 5 stars

5 star		40%
4 star		0%
3 star		20%
2 star		20%
1 star		20%

See all 5 customer reviews

Share your thoughts with other customers

Write a customer review

Top Customer Reviews

Presenting applied physics in historical context. Excellent!

By klrohe on December 4, 2011

Format: Hardcover

I got my Diploma in Physics 27 years ago but I'm still interested in the history of physics in 20th century and the Manhattan Project is in my opinion a very important chapter in it. I have read the book from Richard Rhodes "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" and also the book "Kettenreaktion" from Hubert Mania, which discusses the subject too. These books are written for a general audience. I did not found a book which covers the physics behind the Manhattan Project in a serious way which is accessible to a non specialist in nuclear physics before "The Physics of the Manhattan Project" by Bruce Cameron Reed appeared. It is not an easy reading and I had to brush up my knowledge in calculus and classical physics but having done that I was able to follow the book and solve the problems which accompany most of the chapters.
It is shown how concepts from classical physics and the very basic ideas of quantum theory can be used to get fairly good quantitative approximations for the calculation of the required quantities (efficiency, critical mass etc.). Detailed derivations of the formulas are given in an appendix so that they can be skipped by those who are not interested in the mathematical details.
The book has also an accompanying web site where the reader can find excel spreadsheets which can be used for numerical calculations and simulations. These are very helpful to grasp a feeling for the values of the important quantities for example the released energy of a nuclear detonation as a function of time or the pressure during the detonation as function of time. The book is also an excellent companion to Robert Serbers book "The Los Alamos Primer...".Read more ›

Comment 21 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

A book of physics calculations

By Amazon Customer on February 1, 2014

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

This book takes events and decisions from the public history of the Manhattan problem and uses them as starting point to present a series of solved physics problems. This is recreating on a small scale the design considerations that went into the creation of the first atomic bombs. He isn't trying for perfect results, but using them as an example of how to calculate physics problems. If you aren't interested in physics or engineering, and don't have a background in calculus, you will find this dry or incomprehensible.

But it presents a lot of little intermediate results, that people who find the math interesting might like. For example, "How do you estimate the probability of spontaneous fusion?", or "How bright would the Trinity explosion have appeared if seen from the moon?"

The primary audience is college physics students.

Seber's book, the "Los Alamos Primer" is more interesting for its description, in the latter annotations, of the human elements of the Manhattan project.

Neither is really a book on nuclear weapons design or nuclear engineering.

Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

Too heavy on the use of computer analysis.

By Martin Page on August 10, 2015

Format: Hardcover

There are few books on this subject and this is an excellent stab at it. Historians and novelists would do well to read this if they write on this subject ! Having said that, there are some short comings. The analysis of the Hiroshima bomb ‘ little boy’, seems to be based on 100% U235 not the actual 80%. The calculated yield is then far too low. Regrettably there is no detailed calculations on the Nagasaki ’ fat man. The remarks concerning Heisenberg ‘miscalculation’ are distorted given that the Farm Hall transcribes was declassified in 1992. The book relies a bit too heavily of computer analysis. Ironically a far more accurate estimate of the yields of both little boy and fat man from first principles using Heisenberg’s equations can be made using just a piece of paper, a pencil and a slide rule.

Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

Excelent book!

By PR on February 18, 2014

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

Fantastic book! The first one to bring a true account of the physics behind the Manhattan project. Recommend to all those interested in the physics that created the first atomic bomb! 5 stars or more!

Comment 3 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

not worth purchasing unless you have passed the 3rd semester Calculus class

By sniper on November 25, 2011

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

Unless you are fluent in double and triple intagration and differential equations this book is totally useless. I should have done more investigation before purchasing this book. Do not make the same mistake that I did.