Is there a relationship between the atom bomb and Einstein's theory of relativity?

I know that Einstein designed the atomic bomb that was ulimately dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasacki. Is there a connection between the theory of relativity and the atom bomb?|||A very indirect one I suppose. You can use the equivalence of energy and mass to calculate the amount of energy released in a nuclear reaction.





energy released = c^2 * (mass reactants - mass products)





Einstein didn't really do any work on the bomb, but he did write a now-famous letter to the president alerting him of the possibility of such a bomb.|||Einstein didn't design the atomic bomb but he did through his work on relativity show that energy can be related to mass by his famous equation :-





e=mc^2(energy=mass times the square of the velocity of light)


He realised the possibilities but others designed the bomb.|||his equations let people know that an atomic bomb could be created. he never actually designed the bomb, i think he visited the manhattan project once and that was it.





his mass energy equivalence equation (e=mcsquared) basically says that mass and energy are equivalent, so it only takes a small amount of mass to produce a lot of energy.





The nuclear reactions change mass to energy that is why they are so powerful.|||Einstein had no input on the design of the bomb. The only thing he contributed was his formula.|||After Einstein understood E=mc^2, he realized that there are huge amounts of energy locked within each atom.





I wont go into the long details of the road to get there, but suffice to say Einstein realized that using highly unstable elements (like uranium), it can be (relatively) easy to induce a nuclear fission chain reaction. This in turn would unleash huge amounts of energy locked in the atoms accoring to E=mc^2, ie an atomic bomb.





Einstein understood the implications of this, and knew the Germans were at the forefront of atomic research, and would undoubtedly come to the same conclusion. So he pushed people like Robert Oppenheimer (Manhattan Project lead) and President Roosevelt (by means of the famous letter...see link below) to put every available effort into learning more about this phenomenon before someone else did.





Einstein had come from Europe, and realized what would happen if the Nazi regime discovered how to construct an atomic bomb...the world might be a very different place right now...





so theres the connection...kind of. Einstein did NOT design the bomb, didnt work on it at all in fact, but one of the consequences of his theory of special relativity is E=mc^2, and theres the connection!





hope this helps.





Edit: I wanted to expound a little on my statement that the Germans were on the forefront of atomic research, i think perhaps many people outside the scientific or history community dont know that they really were...





As a prime (and easiest) example, it was German researchers that actually first achieved Uranium fission in Berlin between 1936-1938. Interestingly, they didnt realize what was happening until 1938, but had really been causing and observing fission since earlier experiments. By contrast the Manhatten Project didnt officially begin until December 6, 1941.





like i said, it could have been a much different world, and probably not for the better...