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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In fallout from a nuclear bomb, what material is most likely to cause the most human deaths?
(a) Polonium-215.
(b) Phosphorus-32.
(c) Strontium-90.
(d) Cesium-137.

2. How many gama rays were the firefighters of Chernobyl exposed to?
(a) About a quintillion.
(b) 750 billion.
(c) Over a quadrillion.
(d) 500 trillion.

3. What material was used to assassinate Alexander Litvinenko?
(a) Tritium.
(b) Polonium-210.
(c) Cobalt-60.
(d) Potassium-40.

4. What percent of the energy of gasoline is carried by the best rechargeable batteries?
(a) 34.
(b) 1.
(c) 27.
(d) 8.

5. When was the last date that anthrax letters were sent in 2001?
(a) October 9.
(b) December 3.
(c) November 16.
(d) September 28.

6. When did a National Academy of Science report show no significant increase in birth defects of the children of victims in Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
(a) 2005.
(b) 2004.
(c) 2007.
(d) 2006.

7. How many times the energy of uranium and plutonium bombs can be released by hydrogen bombs?
(a) Over 1,000 times.
(b) 800 times.
(c) 200 times.
(d) About 500 times.

8. How much energy is released by 60 tons of gasoline?
(a) 800 tons of TNT.
(b) 900 tons of TNT.
(c) 750 tons of TNT.
(d) 850 tons of TNT.

9. In Chapter 4, how many people could have been killed by the anthrax spores mailed to news organizations?
(a) Millions.
(b) 575,000.
(c) Hundreds of thousands.
(d) 350,000.

10. How many beta rays must a fifth of whiskey emit every minute or be considered unfit for human consumption?
(a) 400.
(b) 500.
(c) 200.
(d) 300.

11. How many joules does one food calorie contain?
(a) 3,700.
(b) 4,800.
(c) Around 3,900.
(d) About 4,200.

12. When was the Davy Crockett nuclear device exploded in a test?
(a) November 1962.
(b) March 1962.
(c) July 1962.
(d) February 1962.

13. When the book was written, was the the total world production of oil per year?
(a) 40 billion barrels.
(b) 50 billion barrels.
(c) 60 billion barrels.
(d) 30 billion barrels.

14. How many satellites needed to be in view for a GPS system to work on a plane?
(a) 2.
(b) 4.
(c) 1.
(d) 3.

15. When the author had his feet x-rayed as a child, how much radiation did his feet probably receive?
(a) 55 rem.
(b) 50 rem.
(c) 45 rem.
(d) 60 rem.

Short Answer Questions

1. At what temperature did the columns of the World Trade Center become vulnerable to buckling?

2. What was the blast radius of the M83 bombs carried by the B-52s?

3. Exposure to what level of rem will incapacitate you within hours?

4. When did the Soviets carry out a test of the largest man-made nuclear explosion?

5. What was the efficiency of the best solar cells at the time the book was written?

(see the answer keys)

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