Science Final

Question 1

True or False: Laser enrichment is a method of using lasers to separate isotopes of uranium.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

True or False: The difference between nuclear reactions and chemical reactions is that nuclear reactions form new atoms.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

True or False: If you want to create a plasma, you must superheat electrons.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

What isotope is not a product of uranium fission but still is produced in nuclear reactors?

Answer 4

plutonium-239

Question 5

Philip Lenard’s experimentation with the photoelectric effect found that electrons did not

Answer 5

gain kinetic energy as the intensity of the light increased

Question 6

True or False: A wave packet can be a solution to the Schrodinger equation.

Answer 6

True

Question 7

Why would a developing country with no nuclear weapons have felt offended by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty?

Answer 7

The treaty claimed they were not allowed to develop nuclear weapons even though the countries that had them got to keep them.

Question 8

What element did J.J. Thomson find had a mass 1,800 times larger than that of a cathode ray particle?

Answer 8

hydrogen

Question 9

True or False: The detonation of the USSR’s first nuclear bomb and the detonation of its first hydrogen bomb were both in the month of August.

Answer 9

True

Question 10

What principle did Niels Bohr propose?

Answer 10

the correspondence principle

Question 11

If scientists discovered a new substance named “radioactive aether”, it would most likely be an

Answer 11

invisible gas that emits alpha particles

Question 12

What concept did Max Planck propose in 1900?

Answer 12

The quantum

Question 13

What characteristic distinguishes gamma ray photons from other photons?

Answer 13

higher energy levels

Question 14

Approximately how many becquerels comprise one curie?

Answer 14

10^10

Question 15

Radio waves, x-rays, and visible light are all

Answer 15

part of the electromagnetic spectrum

Question 16

What condition must be met in order for a wave to fit around the circumference of a circle?

Answer 16

The wave must have a whole number of wavelengths.

Question 17

If you could increase the critical mass of uranium-235, what consequence would most likely result for scientists trying to create a uranium fission bomb?

Answer 17

They would need to obtain more uranium-235

Question 18

What Manhattan Project program did Robert Oppenheimer lead?

Answer 18

Project Y

Question 19

A photon passing by an excited atom will most likely cause the atom to

Answer 19

emit a photon

Question 20

What ratio of atomic mass number to atomic number does the most common hydrogen isotope have?

Answer 20

1:1

Question 21

What function does a scintillation counter serve?

Answer 21

radioactivity detecter

Question 22

A critical nuclear reaction is defined as a nuclear reaction that

Answer 22

induces a constant chain reaction

Question 23

True or False: Isotopes of the same element correspond with the same location on the periodic table.

Answer 23

True

Question 24

True or False: Alpha particles tend to leave nuclei with high levels of energy.

Answer 24

True

Question 25

For what process is the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor intended?

Answer 25

magnetic confinement fusion

Question 26

Why are we unable to know the state of Schrodinger's cat inside the closed box?

Answer 26

We cannot take measurement when the box is closed

Question 27

After the sixtieth element on the periodic table, elements become less

Answer 27

stable

Question 28

What form of radiation is most common in cancer therapy?

Answer 28

gamma

Question 29

Niels Bohr proposed that the frequency of an electron's radiation after it has undergone an energy level transition can be found from Planck's constant and the

Answer 29

change in the electron's energy

Question 30

True or False: After WWII, media felt that the potential uses for atomic power were boundless.

Answer 30

True

Question 31

If you traveled back in time to describe nuclear fusion to Aristotle, he would most likely disbelieve you on the grounds that

Answer 31

atoms did not exist

Question 32

What function do boron rods perform in nuclear reactors?

Answer 32

They absorb neutrons

Question 33

What term refers to an isotope that existed at Earth's formation?

Answer 33

a primordial isotope

Question 34

Why do alpha, beta, and gamma radiation have fundamentally different properties?

Answer 34

they contain different particles

Question 35

What fuel did the "gadget" nuclear bomb use?

Answer 35

plutonium

Question 36

Approximately how much time passed between the construction of the world's first and second man-made nuclear reactors?

Answer 36

11 months

Question 37

What characteristic of neutrons makes them the best "bullets" for inciting nuclear reactions?

Answer 37

They have no charge

Question 38

What statement best describes quantum theory before 1925?

Answer 38

It lacked a unifying mathematical foundation

Question 39

What term refers to physicists' method of cooling atoms?

Answer 39

Doppler cooling

Question 40

The most current model of the atom describes electrons' motions as

Answer 40

wave functions

Question 41

the "238" in "uranium-238" refers to its

Answer 41

mass number

Question 42

In the formula describing radioactive decay, the symbol λ represents the

Answer 42

decay constant

Question 43

Approximately what percent of matter do nuclear fission reactions convert into energy?

Answer 43

0.1%

Question 44

True or False: The bombs "Fat Man" and "Little Boy" were detonated over different countries.

Answer 44

False

Question 45

Both protons and neutrons have

Answer 45

magnetic movement

Question 46

How many years after the end of WWII did Edward Teller finish his design for a hydrogen bomb?

Answer 46

6 years

Question 47

Approximately how many atoms high was the Trinity test's mushroom cloud (if 1 mile equals approximately 1609 meters)?

Answer 47

10^14

Question 48

True or False: Plato believed that different types of matter had different building blocks.

Answer 48

True