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The "gadget" was the code-name given to the first nuclear explosive
Nuclear weapon

A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either nuclear fission or a combination of fission and nuclear fusion....
 developed under the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project

The Manhattan Project was the project to develop the first atomic weapon during World War II; involving the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada....
 during World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, which was tested at the Trinity
Trinity test

Trinity was the first Nuclear testing of technology for a nuclear weapon. It was conducted by the United States on July 16, 1945, at a location 35 miles southeast of Socorro, New Mexico, New Mexico, on what is now White Sands Missile Range, headquartered near Alamogordo, New Mexico....
 test site on July 16, 1945. It was so called because it was not a deployable weapon, and because revealing words like "bomb" were not used during the project for fear of espionage
Espionage

Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secrecy or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information....
.






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Trinity Gadget
The "gadget" was the code-name given to the first nuclear explosive
Nuclear weapon

A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either nuclear fission or a combination of fission and nuclear fusion....
 developed under the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project

The Manhattan Project was the project to develop the first atomic weapon during World War II; involving the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada....
 during World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, which was tested at the Trinity
Trinity test

Trinity was the first Nuclear testing of technology for a nuclear weapon. It was conducted by the United States on July 16, 1945, at a location 35 miles southeast of Socorro, New Mexico, New Mexico, on what is now White Sands Missile Range, headquartered near Alamogordo, New Mexico....
 test site on July 16, 1945. It was so called because it was not a deployable weapon, and because revealing words like "bomb" were not used during the project for fear of espionage
Espionage

Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secrecy or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information....
. It was an implosion-type
Nuclear weapon design

Nuclear weapon designs are physical, chemical, and engineering arrangements that cause the physics package of a Nuclear weapons to detonate. There are three basic design types....
 plutonium
Plutonium

Plutonium is a rare transuranic radioactive chemical element. It is an actinide metal of silvery-white appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when plutonium oxide....
 device, similar in design to the "Fat Man
Fat Man

Fat Man is the codename for the atomic bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, Nagasaki, Japan, by the United States on August 9, 1945, at 11:02 a.m....
" bomb used three weeks later in the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuclear warfares near the end of World War II against the Empire of Japan by the United States at the executive order of President of the United States Harry S....
.

Design

A subcritical sphere of plutonium was placed in the center of a hollow sphere of high explosive. Numerous detonators
Exploding-bridgewire detonator

The exploding-bridgewire detonator is a type of detonator used to initiate the detonation reaction in explosives, similar to a blasting cap in that it is fired using an electric current....
 located on the surface of the high explosive were fired simultaneously to produce a powerful inward pressure
Pressure

Pressure is the force per unit area applied to an object in a direction surface normal to the surface. Gauge pressure is the pressure relative to the local atmospheric or ambient pressure....
 on the core, squeezing it and increasing its density, resulting in a supercritical condition and a nuclear explosion.

The initial design, based on work done on cyclotron-supplied plutonium would have envisioned a gun-type device, akin to Little Boy
Little Boy

Little Boy was the codename of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945 by the B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets in the 393d Bomb Squadron of the United States Army Air Forces....
. However, mass-produced plutonium emitted enough neutrons to make it likely that it would pre-detonate with low yield, making this design, known as "Thin Man", unusable.

Subsequently, an implosive design was selected, resulting in the design known as Fat Man
Fat Man

Fat Man is the codename for the atomic bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, Nagasaki, Japan, by the United States on August 9, 1945, at 11:02 a.m....
. Both Fat Man and the gadget are not strictly "Fat Man type", as the design was modified into a production design, and both were strictly one-off prototypes.

Test

Trinity Explosion (color)
The "gadget" was tested at Trinity Site, New Mexico
New Mexico

New Mexico is a U. S. State located in the Southwestern United States of the United States. Inhabited by Native Americans in the United States populations for many centuries, it has also has been part of the Spanish Empire viceroyalty of New Spain, part of Mexico, and a U.S....
, near Alamogordo. It was feared by some that the Trinity test
Trinity test

Trinity was the first Nuclear testing of technology for a nuclear weapon. It was conducted by the United States on July 16, 1945, at a location 35 miles southeast of Socorro, New Mexico, New Mexico, on what is now White Sands Missile Range, headquartered near Alamogordo, New Mexico....
 might "ignite" the Earth's atmosphere, eliminating all life on the planet, although a classified report produced several years earlier had demonstrated that this was not possible. Less wild estimates thought that New Mexico would be incinerated. Calculations showed that the yield of the device would be between 0 (if it did not work) and 20 kilotons (metric, equivalence of TNT
Trinitrotoluene

Trinitrotoluene , or more specifically, 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H23CH3....
). In the aftermath of the test, it appeared to have been a blast equivalent to 18 kt of TNT. It was also a highly covert operation
Covert operation

A covert operation is a military, Military intelligence, or Politics activity carried out in such a way that the identity of the sponsors of the operation is concealed or kept secret....
.