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Stuff Every Nuclear Science Scout Should Know: free practice in 30-second cards

Stuff Every Nuclear Science Scout Should Know

Practice facts for the Nuclear Science merit badge. Not an official Scouting America credential.

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Free to start, no sign-up. 77 cards so far. One Knowledge Score and day streak across all your courses.

Questions people ask

Is this practice test free?

Yes. The first 50 cards are free for everyone with no sign-up, each with the answer, why it is right and its sources. Aha Trivia members get all 77 cards and timed practice exams.

How many practice questions are there?

77 practice questions so far. Each one is a 3-choice card that takes about 30 seconds, and the course grows as new cards pass our source checks.

Where do the answers come from?

Every card lists the sources it was checked against, and each answer explains why it is right. If you think an answer is wrong, tap "Challenge this answer" in the game and it gets reviewed.

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Yes. Voice mode reads the questions out loud and you answer by voice.

Try 3 cards

  1. What does ionizing radiation do to atoms that nonionizing radiation does not?
    Show the answer

    It removes electrons from atoms. Ionizing radiation carries enough energy to strip electrons from atoms, creating ions. Nonionizing radiation lacks that energy.

  2. In the ALARA principle, what does the A stand for?
    Show the answer

    As low as reasonably achievable. ALARA means keeping radiation dose as low as reasonably achievable, balancing safety with practical work needs.

  3. Which three factors are the main ways to reduce a person's radiation dose?
    Show the answer

    Time, distance, and shielding. Limiting time near a source, increasing distance, and adding shielding all reduce dose.

All 77 practice questions

The first 50 are free, with the answer, why it's right and the official sources. The other 27 (🔒) open with a membership (every test). Or play them as a game and track what you've learned.

Show all 77 questions
  1. What does ionizing radiation do to atoms that nonionizing radiation does not?
  2. In the ALARA principle, what does the A stand for?
  3. Which three factors are the main ways to reduce a person's radiation dose?
  4. What is the difference between radiation exposure and contamination?
  5. What does a radiation survey meter measure?
  6. As a radioactive source moves farther from a detector, what usually happens to the count rate?
  7. What is the purpose of placing different materials between a source and a detector?
  8. What is radon, and why is it a home health concern?
  9. Why are both short-term and long-term radon tests useful?
  10. What is a practical step to reduce radon in a building?
  11. In a nuclear reactor, what is a chain reaction?
  12. What does critical mass mean for a fission chain reaction?
  13. How can a chain reaction be controlled in a nuclear reactor?
  14. What is nuclear fission?
  15. What is nuclear fusion?
  16. What powers the Sun and other stars?
  17. What is an isotope?
  18. What is an alpha particle?
  19. What happens to the element during alpha decay?
  20. What is a beta particle?
  21. What is a gamma ray?
  22. Does gamma decay change one element into another?
  23. What is radioactivity?
  24. What is a radioisotope?
  25. What is the nucleus of an atom?
  26. What are protons and neutrons made of?
  27. What is the main job of a particle accelerator?
  28. What did Rutherford's gold foil experiment reveal?
  29. What is the strong nuclear force?
  30. Why can heavy nuclei undergo fission and release energy?
  31. What is a decay chain?
  32. What is a half-life?
  33. What is naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM)?
  34. Why are some everyday items radioactive?
  35. Where does the radiation hazard symbol belong?
  36. What is one way people are exposed to ionizing radiation every day?
  37. How is nuclear science used in nuclear medicine?
  38. How can nuclear techniques help environmental science?
  39. What is one industrial use of nuclear science?
  40. How is nuclear science used in space exploration?
  41. What is radiation therapy used for?
  42. What should you do if you find an unknown radioactive source?
  43. What is one career path in nuclear science besides engineering?
  44. What is the liquid-drop model used to describe?
  45. What is the main difference between nuclear physics and atomic physics?
  46. What did Rutherford's team fire at gold foil in the famous scattering experiment?
  47. Who discovered the neutron in 1932?
  48. What did Hideki Yukawa propose in 1935 to explain how the nucleus holds together?
  49. What is radiocarbon dating used for?
  50. Why is alpha decay considered a highly asymmetrical fission?
  51. What is the valley of stability on a chart of nuclides? 🔒
  52. What happens to nuclei with too few or too many neutrons compared with protons? 🔒
  53. About how many stable nuclides are known? 🔒
  54. What is the range of half-lives for unstable isotopes? 🔒
  55. What makes nuclei with magic numbers of neutrons and protons especially stable? 🔒
  56. What is the quark-gluon plasma? 🔒
  57. What does nuclear astrophysics help explain? 🔒
  58. Why does fusion require very high temperature or pressure? 🔒
  59. What is the source of energy for nuclear power plants? 🔒
  60. What are the smallest critical mass conditions helped by? 🔒
  61. Where were natural nuclear fission reactors active over 1.5 billion years ago? 🔒
  62. About half of the heat from Earth's core comes from what? 🔒
  63. How were elements heavier than iron mostly created? 🔒
  64. Where is the rapid neutron capture process thought to occur? 🔒
  65. What did Henri Becquerel discover in 1896? 🔒
  66. What did J. J. Thomson discover a year after Becquerel's discovery? 🔒
  67. What was the plum pudding model of the atom? 🔒
  68. What did studies of nuclear spin reveal about the Rutherford model? 🔒
  69. What is the difference between nuclear physics and nucleonics? 🔒
  70. In beta decay, what does a neutron in the nucleus convert into? 🔒
  71. What does ion implantation in materials engineering use nuclear science for? 🔒
  72. What is the strong force's range compared with electromagnetic repulsion between protons? 🔒
  73. What happens in internal conversion decay? 🔒
  74. What is the frontier of current fusion research at facilities like JET and ITER? 🔒
  75. What is thermonuclear runaway? 🔒
  76. What did the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics recognize? 🔒
  77. What did Rutherford receive the 1908 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for? 🔒