"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds." - J. Robert Oppenheimer, quoting the Bhagavad Gita (Ch 11 Verse 30) during the first nuclear explosion. Oppenheimer headed the Manhattan Project, his brother founded the Exploratorium.
"It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall" - Bob Dylan, A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
Nuclear War Project 2009 
Most recent update April 10, 2007 9:58 PM
- Guiding questions:
- "Why was Einstein's equation E = mc^2 a pivotal contribution to the development of weaponry?"
- "How do nuclear weapons differ from conventional weapons?"
- "What are the consequences of nuclear war?"
- "Because of their role in developing nuclear weapons, do physicists now have an ethical responsibility to help reduce the threat of nuclear war?"
- Before you begin:
- Plagiarism: Each time we''ve assigned this report, I have caught a handful of students plagiarizing. While a few have tried to pass off past students' reports as their own or have worked too closely with other students in class (writing the same identical answers), most students committing plagiarism are copying from online sources such as Wikipedia. While it is not an excuse, some students claim they do not know that changing a few words in an otherwise identical sentence still constitutes plagiarism. So, read this description of plagiarism and be aware that any instance of plagiarism in your report (such as failure to cite someone else's work or changing only a few words from someone else's work) is a serious offense, both academically and morally, and will result in a failing grade, a report to the deans office, and additional work. That said, most students find this topic quite interesting and engaging and growing up in the 21st century demands us to confront the scientific, political, and ethical consequences of nuclear technologies. So let's get educated!
- Create a Microsoft Word file that includes your name in the file name. If your name is Kilgore Trout then your project would be called "Kilgore Trout Nuclear War Project." All work on this project will be included in this Word document, which you will submit by e-mail. Your finished work may be published online at the discretion of the instructor and with your consent.
- Part I. Describe the difference between nuclear fission and nuclear fusion. Descriptions should be a few sentences in length. You may have to do some research online. Explain in your own words, demonstrating your unique understanding with techniques like analogies, stories, sketches, etc. It can be helpful to include important equations. One possible strategy is to pretend that you are preparing a lecture on the topic to give to a physics class.
- Part II. Use the PhET simulation on Nuclear Physics (located under section on "Light & Radiation"), selecting the tabs for "Fission: One Nucleus", "Chain Reaction" and "Nuclear Reactor" and playing around with these sims. Answer the following questions.
- What is a chain reaction and what does it have to do with a nuclear bomb?
- What does a nuclear reactor do that a nuclear bomb does not? Be specific.
- Part III. Read this PowerPoint (in .swf) on Nuclear War
- Find out how far SI is from downtown San Francisco. Use the powerpoint slides to determine what the thermal, blast, and nuclear effects of a 1 MT nuclear bomb would have on SI if the bomb was detonated downtown.
- Write a paragraph explaining the difference between an atomic bomb and a hydrogen bomb.
- Part IV.
Watch the following short YouTube videos (with sound) and write a short paragraph response to the videos & images:
- above-ground nuclear explosions fixed
- underwater nuclear test
- Soviet Tsar Bomb: largest hydrogen bomb (50 MT)
- Hiroshima reenactment by BBC
- Footage of atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima
- Footage of atomic bomb attack on Nagasaki
- check out this image comparing the sizes of various nuclear explosions (the tsar bomb is amazing!)
- Part V. Travel in Google Earth to the US atomic testing range near Las Vegas, Nevada. Start by navigating to Las Vegas, rising up to about 50000 ft in eye altitude, then traveling roughly northwest until you are at 37-02-12 degrees north and 116-01-37 degrees west. Zoom in and have a look at the craters. Find a nice picture of a crater, use File - Save Image, and include your image in your final project write-up. Google Earth should be available on the computers in the labs here at school.
- Part VI.
Visit these websites from the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) website, an NRDC archive that includes data on nuclear stockpiles. Answer the questions below:
- What countries are declared nuclear weapons-possessing countries?
- What countries are undeclared nuclear weapons-possessing countries or are believed to be pursuing nuclear weapons technologies?
- How many nuclear weapons are in the US arsenal?
- How many are in the Russian, Chinese, French, UK, Indian, and Pakistani arsenals?
- When was the last time the US made an above-ground ("atmospheric") nuclear test? What about a below-ground test?
- When was the last time an atmospheric test by any country was made?
- When was the last time any nuclear test by any country was made?
- What countries are declared nuclear weapons-possessing countries?
- Part VII. Read the preamble and articles I, II, III, and VI of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, then answer the following questions:
- What are the obligations of the United States under the Non-Proliferation Treaty?
- According to your understanding, is the US meeting these obligations? Reference at least one current news article that supports your understanding.
- Do you think the US should be a party to this Treaty?
- Part VIII. Read this statement by the group of US Bishops and Pax Christi on the morality of the US's policty on nuclear deterrence. Answer the following questions:
- What does it mean to have a policy of deterrance?
- What dangers do the bishops connect to a policy of deterrence?
- What moral conclusions do the bishops make regarding a current policty of deterrance?
- Do you agree or disagree with the position expressed by these bishops and Pax Christi?
- What does it mean to have a policy of deterrance?
- Part IX.
Read this statement from a union of American scientists on the US nuclear weapons policy. Then answer the questions below in your own words:
- The scientists make 10 recommendations for US policy. What goals do they have in mind in making these recommendations? In other words, what are these recommendations intended to do? This does not require summarizing all of the recommendations.
- How many nuclear weapons do the scientists recommend the US have in its arsenal?
- What do the scientists recommend regarding the further testing of nuclear weapons?
- What do the scientists recommend regarding the space-based missile defense system?
- Do you agree or disagree with the position expressed by these scientists?
- Part X. Comment on the following (intentionally provocative question): "Would the US be within its rights to use one or more nuclear weapons to destroy suspected nuclear facilities in Syria, Iran or North Korea?" Include in your commentary at least two references to current news articles with links to these articles posted at the bottom of your response. Your commentary should run about 1 page.
- When you are finished, you should have a Word document with your name at the top and in the filename, and each of your responses clearly written and numbered I through X. On top of this framework, you can also extend & expand the project in an appropriate way -- see rubric below. You will submit it to turnitin.com
- *** DUE TO turnitin.com on Friday Oct 9th by 10:00 PM ***
Rubric (Physics Honors)
- Grade of A (4.0): in addition to the requirements of the B grade ... the student has gone beyond the assignment to generate new ideas, new content, a fresh approach, a stunning presentation; the student has produced a novel work that demonstrates a thoughtful and well-researched mindset. We are giving you a chance to be very creative here. // Hint: a good approach would be to look at the material collected in the assignments above as raw data. Now, can you analyze, organize, restructure, and otherwise tame this data so that it acts as an argument to a new idea? The hard part is coming up with a new idea that nobody's ever thought about before ... but that's what intellectual work is all about!
- Grade of B (3.0): in addition to the requirements of the C grade ... document is clean, well-written and error-checked, up to the standards of a Junior-level English class (including citations); student made connections between the different parts of the assignment and related the different parts to the guiding questions in a natural way // Note: students who achieved this grade typically used the guiding questions as a link between the answers to the different parts so that a theme emerged. This is a fine approach. Think of the "work" in the project (the assignments above) as your raw material -- like clay -- that you're going to mold into a coherent piece. You have enormous license to be creative here.
- Grade of C (2.0): all parts completed as specified in the instructions above // Note: simply answering the questions and doing the minimum amount of work is just fine. Higher grades are given to projects that extend beyond the stated assignment. [BJP]
- Grade of D (1.0): one part or a few minor parts are missing, but what remains is a passable attempt at doing the work
- Grade of F (0.0): assignment largely incomplete or not turned in or include works of plagiarism
