Fat Man & Little Boy Movie Discussion Questionsname

Fat Man & Little Boy Movie Discussion QuestionsName:

1. Why did the scientists object to General Groves' security restrictions? How does secrecy affect the work of a scientist?

1. Describe the use of explosion and implosion in the two bombs dropped on Japan that ended WW II.

1. Could the Manhattan Project have succeeded without teamwork and how does this question relate to the success of the Allies in the Second World War?

1. Now that we have cruise missiles that can take out a particular address and the entire world knows the power of nuclear weapons, is there any excuse for using a nuclear weapon on any country?

1. What was the strongest emotion that you felt when watching the film?

1. What did you learn from this movie?

1. Which character did you [admire, hate, love, pity] the most?

Why did the scientists object to General Groves' security restrictions? How does secrecy affect the work of a scientist? Suggested Response: The scientific method requires, among other things, open discussion and the competition of ideas so that the best idea can prevail. Nothing can be secret. A scientist publishes a paper describing his/her experiments and the results. Other scientists can then try to duplicate the experiment and build upon the discoveries of the first scientist. Secrecy retards the growth of scientific knowledge. The military, on the other hand, often depends upon secrecy.

3.Describe the use of explosion and implosion in the two bombs dropped on Japan that ended WW II. Suggested Response: These refer to the method of putting the critical mass together. The gun type uses conventional explosives to push one part of the critical mass toward the rest. The implosion method has the radioactive material surround a central point like the shell of a sphere. The explosions push the radioactive material toward the center, at which point it attains critical mass.

1.Could the Manhattan Project have succeeded without teamwork and how does this question relate to the success of the Allies in the Second World War? Suggested Response: The Manhattan Project and, in fact, all major undertakings require the coordinated work of many people. One of the reasons that the Allies won the Second World War was their mastery of the art of making complex organizations work smoothly and attain their goals. Another reason was the cooperation of people from many different countries and different cultures within the U.S., e.g., the cooperation between Groves, who came from a military culture and Oppenheimer who came from a scientific culture; another is the cooperation of scientists from many different countries.

1.Now that we have cruise missiles that can take out a particular address and the entire world knows the power of nuclear weapons, is there any excuse for using a nuclear weapon on any country? Suggested Response: Two of the reasons given for bombing civilian population centers in WW II were that the military installations were mixed in with the civilian population and that the other side didn't understand the power of nuclear weapons. These were major factors in the decision to bomb populated centers to end WW II. They are not true today.