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The Manhattan Project Quiz

    The Manhattan Project was a World War II initiative of the United States, Canada, and the UK with the sole purpose of creating a nuclear weapon.  How much do you know about the history and science the culminated in two of the most notorious events in human history?  

1.) The idea of the allied nations creating a nuclear weapon originated:

A in a 1939 letter to President Roosevelt signed by three prominent physicists warning of Nazi Germany's potential nuclear capabilities.
B with the discovery of radium.
C with the knowledge that nuclear bombs are highly powerful as witnessed by the 1938 Trinity test.
D with the belief that WWII would not end unless the Japanese were held accountable for Pearl Harbor.

2.) The high proportion of Jewish scientists involved was due to:

A the Jewish belief that Germany needed to be "paid back" for it's war crimes against Jews.
B Jewish physicists being relieved from their academic positions across Europe, fleeing to the U.S., and becoming involved in the project.
C the high Jewish support for nuclear based weapons.
D None of the above

3.) The bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively, were called:

A Fat Man and Little Boy
B Enola Gay and Bockscar
C Little Boy and Fat Man
D Bockscar and Enola Gay

4.) A sub-project of the Manhattan Project coined Project ________ was responsible for

A Necessary Evil, negotiation with Britain
B Bockscar, reconnaissance
C Enola Gay, Protecting the secrecy of the project
D Alberta, Delivering the bombs to the launch site

5.) The Isotopes used in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively, were:

A U-235, U 238
B Pu-239, Pu-240
C U-235, Pu-239
D U-238, Pu-240

6.) The basic principle behind the nuclear bomb is that nuclear ______ is a highly ___________ process, involving _______ of atoms 

A Fission, Exothermic, Splitting
B Fusion, Exothermic, Splitting
C Fusion, Endothermic, Joining
D Fission, Electromagnetic, Splitting

7.) The detonation of the Hiroshima bomb involved_____________ thus starting the reaction

A firing isotopic uranium into a chunk of larger isotopic uranium, 
B lighting a fuse made of unstable plutonium,
C rapidly depressurizing the internal bomb components, 
D Imploding a core of plutonium upon itself,

8.) The reason the uranium bomb was never tested was because:

A Scientists were so sure the design would work.
B There was not enough U-235 to sacrifice in testing.
C Testing could have exposed the entire project.
D Both A and B
E All of the above

9.) Uranium Enrichment involves: 

A Increasing the size of the uranium atoms in a sample 
B Increasing the content of unstable uranium in a sample
C Adding other elements to a sample of uranium
D Converting plutonium to uranium

10.) An isotope of Uranium is U 235.  235 is the element's