America Ran Out of Copper in 1942 — So Manhattan Project Used Fort Knox Silver
Автор: WW2 Total Archive
Загружено: 2025-12-20
Просмотров: 860
In 1942, the Manhattan Project faced a critical copper shortage just as it needed enormous electromagnets to separate uranium isotopes for an atomic bomb. To solve this, U.S. Army engineer Kenneth Nichols negotiated an unprecedented loan of 14,700 tons of silver—about 395 million troy ounces—from the U.S. Treasury, which was rewound into magnet coils for the Y-12 calutron plant at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Operated largely by young women who optimized the machines by watching meters rather than understanding the physics, the calutrons slowly enriched uranium-235 to weapons grade, ultimately producing the material for the Hiroshima bomb. Although the electromagnetic process was inefficient and soon eclipsed by gaseous diffusion, it provided a vital backup that ensured success. Every ounce of silver was eventually returned by 1970, leaving a striking legacy of how a nation repurposed its monetary reserves to solve an otherwise impossible wartime problem.
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