These winds caused minor scrathces, lacerations, or compound fractures, which came about when people and glass fragments were projected through the air. By combining the results of the static overpressure and the dynamic pressure on can begin to see what damage was caused by the atomic bomb’s blast. The total number affected in Hiroshima was approximately seventy-eight thousand people, while in Nagasaki the total number affected was approximately forty-five thousand people (International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, 1982).

The thermal radiation produced by an atomic bomb explosion will account for thirty-five percent of the atomic bomb’s damage. Thermal radiation can come in either one of three forms; ultraviolet radiation, visible radiation, or infrared radiation. The ultraviolet radiation is absorbed so rapidly by air particles that it has no substantial effect on people (World Book, 1990). However, the visible and infrared radiation creates an enormous amount of heat to be produced, approximately ten million degrees Celsius at the hypocenter (Physicians and Scientists on Nuclear War, 1981). This heat has two main effects. The first is known as flash burns. These flash burns are produced by the flash of thermal radiation right after the explosion. Flash burns can be either first degree burns (bad sun burns), second degree burns ( blisters, infections, and scars), or third degree burns (destroyed skin tissue). The second type is known as flame burns. These are burns that come from one of two different types of fires, which are created when flammable materials are ignited by the thermal radiation. The first type is called firestorms. A firestorm is violent, has raging winds, and has extremely high temperatures; but fortunately it does not spread very rapidly. The second type is called a conflagration. A conflagration is when the fire spreads in a front (International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, 1982). The thermal radiation produced by the atomic bomb’s explosion will account for most of the deaths or injuries.

In Hiroshima and Nagasaki the thermal radiation accounted for approximately twenty to thirty percent of the deaths or injuries from the atomic bomb’s explosion. Those that were at a distance of four and two hundredths of a kilometer from the hypocenter received first degree burns. Those that were at a distance of three and one half kilometers from the hypocenter received second degree burns.