What Are The Long-Term Effects Of Nuclear Warfare
Nuclear weapons are one of the many common fears of the modern world. Because at any minute, the world could suffer a nuclear filled catastrophe, killing millions. Not only are they potentially life threatening, the biggest nations in the world have stockpiles of these weapons of mass destruction. That is not the scariest part however. The effects of nuclear warfare are just as deadly, if not, worse. Nevertheless, the rapid extermination of the radioactive explosives ought to occur globally because not only is the explosion from one highly destructive to humans, animals, and the environment, it also brings deadly long-term side effects to the table by polluting the environment nearly hundreds of miles away from where the explosion occurs, making
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The radioactive elements used in the devices would be blown around the globe due to air currents and cause a nuclear fallout. Depending on the strength of the atomic weapon, there would either be early fallout, where radioactive weather conditions are experienced within approximately 24 hours, or delayed fallout, which the conditions arrive months or years later (Atomic Archive, 17). Despite most of the nuclear material decaying almost instantaneously, radioactive elements such as cesium and strontium, which possess longer half-lives, will continue to contaminate the environment, rendering it unsuitable for life. To make matters worse, plutonium is commonly used in nuclear weapons, and since not all of the plutonium has been splitted up, it can become a tremendous threat. Not only has a long half-life of 27,000 years, but just a microgram of can consequently cause inexorable, devastating tumors to the bones and lungs (Atomic Archive, …show more content…
We can clearly see that the weapons can create up to millions of casualties, while in the long run, carrying effects that aggravate the death toll due to radiation poisoning and other harmful effects created by pollution. The symptoms carry a toll on not only human and animal life affected by the nuclear threat, but the whole ecosystem as well. The threat of such an occurrence should be taken with extreme caution and awareness. While such a catastrophe may not destroy the world completely, it can consequently disrupt the way of life, and potentially wipe out an entire species from its hazardous effects in the long run. Ultimately, it is our responsibility to whether or not we as a species can acknowledge the fact that the short term, and long term consequences of detonating these catastrophe-causing
The radioactive elements used in the devices would be blown around the globe due to air currents and cause a nuclear fallout. Depending on the strength of the atomic weapon, there would either be early fallout, where radioactive weather conditions are experienced within approximately 24 hours, or delayed fallout, which the conditions arrive months or years later (Atomic Archive, 17). Despite most of the nuclear material decaying almost instantaneously, radioactive elements such as cesium and strontium, which possess longer half-lives, will continue to contaminate the environment, rendering it unsuitable for life. To make matters worse, plutonium is commonly used in nuclear weapons, and since not all of the plutonium has been splitted up, it can become a tremendous threat. Not only has a long half-life of 27,000 years, but just a microgram of can consequently cause inexorable, devastating tumors to the bones and lungs (Atomic Archive, …show more content…
We can clearly see that the weapons can create up to millions of casualties, while in the long run, carrying effects that aggravate the death toll due to radiation poisoning and other harmful effects created by pollution. The symptoms carry a toll on not only human and animal life affected by the nuclear threat, but the whole ecosystem as well. The threat of such an occurrence should be taken with extreme caution and awareness. While such a catastrophe may not destroy the world completely, it can consequently disrupt the way of life, and potentially wipe out an entire species from its hazardous effects in the long run. Ultimately, it is our responsibility to whether or not we as a species can acknowledge the fact that the short term, and long term consequences of detonating these catastrophe-causing