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By Adam Winer, author of How Dumb Are You?
My book is full of questions every mildly-educated American SHOULD be able to answer—but often can’t. Prior to publication, we ran all the questions past a test audience to see how many people answered each one correctly. Those stats are included in the book, so you can see, on a question-by-question basis, exactly how poorly you stack up against your fellow countrymen. Plus each answer comes with a rip-roaring Fun Fact. For Mental Floss, I’ll be taking the best facts from the book and exploring them here in greater depth.
Today’s Question: Only two cities in the world have had an atomic bomb dropped on them. The first was Hiroshima. What was the other?
Answer: Nagasaki (If you got this wrong, you are dumber than 74% of America.)
The Scoop: Starting in 1951, the Atomic Energy Commission began detonating atomic devices right here in the good ol’ U.S. of A., performing nuclear tests in the Nevada desert, a mere 65 miles from downtown Las Vegas. At that time, the understanding of radiation was still a bit thin, and government scientists assured everyone the tests were perfectly safe. So Vegas, being Vegas, made the most of the situation.
Soon calendars were printed up noting atomic test days and the nuclear flashes were being promoted across the nation as Vegas’s most dazzling attraction. Nuclear tourists poured into the area, which was now promoting itself as Atomic City. Showgirls danced with mushroom cloud headpieces, postcards were printed showing mushroom clouds blossoming behind the casino-laden skyline and a mushroom cloud was even added to the county’s official seal. Some visitors attended bomb viewing parties at the casinos, where gamblers could get sauced while waiting for a nuclear blast. Others wanted an even closer view and would actually sit out in the desert to watch the blast—then marvel at the odd dust that showered down on them afterwards. This, of course, was atomic fallout, but back then no one thought it was any more dangerous than pixie dust.
Over the course of 12 years, 235 nuclear devices were detonated in the Nevada dessert, an average of one every three weeks. The atomic blasts lead to a measurable increase in tourism, publicity and, well… leukemia and cancer cases. But, you know, there’s a tradeoff for everything…
Pick up a copy of How Dumb Are You? at your local bookstore or at Amazon.com. For more information, visit stupidityquiz.com.
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posted by Leeshka on 12-17-2008 at 1:22 pm
I read an article in Equire a while back about a Nuclear bomb that was accidentally dropped from a plane somewhere over the US. One of the south-eastern states I believe.
Apparently it augered into a swamp and was the source of a lot of headaches… But of course it didn’t detonate.
It was a really great read.
posted by brickcityman on 12-17-2008 at 1:22 pm
The Tybee bomb
posted by Vickey on 12-17-2008 at 1:47 pm
I’d be curious to know what answers people incorrectly gave to the question. Berlin? Baghdad?
posted by Johnny Cat on 12-17-2008 at 2:19 pm
Brickcityman: The bomb was dropped in Fargo, NC out near Goldsboro and Seymour Johnson AFB.
posted by Derek Burress on 12-17-2008 at 5:09 pm
lol! nice one vickey!
posted by tiffany on 12-17-2008 at 5:19 pm
Tybee Island bomb still missing…..seen any glowing fish?
posted by Ronnie on 12-17-2008 at 7:59 pm
According to the Brookings Inst. there are 11 lost nuclear warheads. One being the Tybee Bomb off the Coast of Georgia. Georgia supposedly has the 2nd largest number of warheads of any state aprox 2000 only behind New Mexico.
The “little boy” was dropped on Hiroshima and the “fat man” on Nagasaki.
The last tidbit from Mrs. Williams 9th grade science class. Some things you can’t forget.
posted by Kev in GA on 12-17-2008 at 9:32 pm
May 22, 1957, a B-36 bomber carrying a nuclear weapon accidentally dropped its cargo about 4 miles south of the control tower at Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, N.M.
The plane was carrying the weapon ( 10 megaton Mark 17) from Biggs Air Force Base in Texas to Kirtland for maintenance.the plutonium pit of the weapon had been removed for transport, although the pit was still on the plane. And as usual, the bomb was designed not to explode on impact, but rather through a signal from a trigger device.
posted by Carl Bylander on 12-18-2008 at 2:20 pm
I’ve been to Nagasaki. It’s pretty weird. There are a few bars that won’t let Americans in, but it’s like that in Japan anyway. If you go to the Museum of course everyone looks at you strangely. There’s a whole one sentence on a plaque that sort of mentions Pearl Harbor. I haven’t been to the Pearl Harbor memorial, but I wonder if it’s as one-sided. Not that an A-bomb = an air strike, I just wonder what exactly they mention.
posted by Erin on 12-18-2008 at 3:55 pm