Atomic+Bomb+Reading+Questions.docx

Atomic Bomb Reading Questions

1. Where was nuclear fission discovered?

• Berlin, Germany
• 1938
• Einstein was Jewish and came from Germany, so he warned FDR

1. What was the name of our mission to build a functional atomic bomb? What was the name of the scientist that led this mission?

• The Manhattan Project, led by J. Robert Oppenheimer

1. When did work begin in the United States for an atomic bomb?

• FDR authorized the formation of the Project on December 28, 1942, and the first test was on July 16, 1945.

1. Where was much of the work on the atomic bomb performed? Why?

• Los Alamos, New Mexico
• It was near a remote desert location, so no one would get hurt.
• Secluded, there were less people to harm, no one would know what you’re doing
• The people working on it had no idea what they were actually doing
• Harry Truman had no idea until he became president

1. Identify the two types of bombs that were built and later detonated in Japan.

• Uranium Based= the Little Boy

🡪Hiroshima

• Plutonium based= the Fat Man

🡪Nagasaki

1. What was President Truman’s warning at the Potsdam Conference in July of 1945?

• Potsdam Declaration
• Surrender or face complete and utter destruction

1. Approximately how many people were killed instantaneously in the bombing of Hiroshima?

• 80,000

1. How much time elapsed between the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

• 3 days