U.S. Nuclear Weapons Tests: 2 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Krakatoa, Tsar Bomba, Castle Bravo, Mount St. Helens

The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa was the largest at 200 megatons, or 200 million tons of TNT. The Soviet Union's Tsar Bomba (1961) was 50 megatons -- the largest nuclear detonation of all time. Castle Bravo (1954) was 15 megatons and the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens was 10 megatons.

Answer: Crossroads Baker, the fifth nuclear device ever exploded

The shallow-water burst Crossroads Baker at Bikini Atoll in 1946 came from the same type of device dropped on Nagasaki. It was exploded under a fleet of old and decommissioned ships, and released significant quantities of radiation across the atoll- -- far worse than the earlier test burst (Crossroads Able) that was dropped on the fleet from a B-29. Because of the radiation, President Truman ordered the third test in the series, Crossroads Charlie, canceled. Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Glenn Seaborg later declared that Crossroads Baker was the world's first nuclear disaster.

Answer: An explosion with a far less-than-expected yield

A fizzle results when a device fails to work as designed. The nuclear chain reaction fails to sustain long enough to create the nuclear explosion, resulting in a drastically reduced yield. North Korea's first nuclear test in the mid-2000s was reportedly a fizzle.

Answer: True

Some fizzles can still be highly destructive. For example, the Castle Koon shot at Bikini Atoll in 1954 was intended to be a 1 megaton explosion, but it fizzled, yielding "only" 110 kilotons, far more powerful than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

It was powerful enough to make a crater 900 feet wide and 75 feet deep. Had Koon actually worked, it would have annihilated the island on which it was exploded. Some fizzles, however, are not really destructive or powerful, such as North Korea's first detonation in the mid-2000s.

Answer: A test of thermonuclear fusion

At 225 kilotons, Greenhouse George was the first successful test of thermonuclear fusion. It was immediately followed by Greenhouse Item, also a successful thermonuclear fusion test. The largest pure fission explosion ever was Ivy King, at 500 kilotons, exploded in the fall of 1952. Shortly before Ivy King came Ivy Mike, the first full-scale thermonuclear explosion, at 10 megatons.

Answer: Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds

Oppenheimer quoted from a Hindu scripture. "That's one small step for man..." is what astronaut Neil Armstrong said when he first stepped on the moon.

Answer: Thor

The US used the Thor, named after the Norse god/hero. The Thor missile is easily identifiable by its blunt, nearly flat nose, as opposed to the conical noses of other missile systems. The Saturn V was the gigantic rocket used in the Apollo space program. The Minuteman II was a circa-1980s ballistic missile. The V2 was the German terror missile in the last year of WWII.

Answer: airplane

While airplanes (bombers) dropped nuclear test weapons, they themselves were never used as the platform on which they were detonated. Towers and balloons were used at the Nevada Test Site and towers and barges were used at the Pacific Proving Ground.

Answer: It created far more fallout than Castle Bravo

High-altitude tests produce very little fallout. The 1.4 megaton Starfish Prime detonation was visible in Hawaii, as was an aurora created by the fireball. The electromagnetic pulse was more powerful than expected, causing disruptions to telephone service, setting off burglar alarms and damaging street lights in Hawaii.

In addition, three low-orbit satellites soon failed, and others were later disabled thanks, it is believed, to Starfish Prime and other high-altitude tests.

Answer: B-36 Peacemaker

A B-36 Peacemaker became the first American bomber to drop an H-bomb (a hydrogen, or thermonuclear, bomb) during the 1956 Operation Redwing test series in the Marshall Islands. Previously, all H-bombs had been detonated on towers or at surface levels.