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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How much of the radioactivity in the Chernobyl reactor was possible released into the atmosphere?
(a) 25%.
(b) 40%.
(c) 30%.
(d) 35%.

2. In the Manhattan Project, how much uranium did scientists believe was needed for a critical mass?
(a) 440 pounds.
(b) 510 pounds.
(c) 380 pounds.
(d) 630 pounds.

3. How much more energy is typically released by a nuclear chain reaction than an equal weight of TNT?
(a) 500,000 times.
(b) 20 million times.
(c) 10,000 times.
(d) 15 million times.

4. How many kilotons of TNT were used by Al-Qaeda on September 11, 2001?
(a) 1.5.
(b) 1.4.
(c) 1.8.
(d) 2.1.

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

6. How many square miles of sunlight at midday could provide a gigawatt of electric power?
(a) 3.
(b) 1.
(c) 2.
(d) 4.

7. When was it rumored that Saddam Hussein tested a dirty bomb?
(a) 1979.
(b) 1987.
(c) 1981.
(d) 1977.

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

9. How much in 2008 were "triple junction" (82) solar cells?
(a) $75 per square foot.
(b) About $65 per square foot.
(c) Around $50 per square foot.
(d) $100 per square foot.

10. When did the Soviets carry out a test of the largest man-made nuclear explosion?
(a) July 12, 1961.
(b) October 30, 1961.
(c) April 18, 1961.
(d) March 19, 1961.

11. When did the United States build a small nuclear weapon called the Davy Crockett?
(a) 1958.
(b) Late 1960s.
(c) Early 1960s.
(d) 1964.

12. How many rem was it estimated that survivors of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki received?
(a) 15.
(b) 10.
(c) 20.
(d) 25.

13. How large was a plane that was used as a weapon in the 9/11 attack?
(a) 158 tons.
(b) 103 tons.
(c) 131 tons.
(d) 142 tons.

14. How long does the radioactivity of iodine-131 last?
(a) A few weeks.
(b) 2 years.
(c) 5 months.
(d) A month.

15. How many tons of coal did the author say that the U.S. had in reserves in Chapter 7?
(a) 4 billion.
(b) About 2 trillion.
(c) 11 billion.
(d) About 3 trillion.

Short Answer Questions

1. How many people might be killed by a blast in the center of the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day?

2. How much of a half-life does carbon-14 have?

3. In Chapter 7, when oil would rise to what price per barrel did countries take their coal reserves and convert them to oil?

4. How many horsepower do car engines deliver?

5. When did North Korea test its first atomic bomb?

(see the answer keys)

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