How much do you know about nuclear weapons? Take our quiz.

The nuclear arms race that began during World War II, then escalated throughout the cold war, has left more than 17,000 nuclear warheads scattered around the world, according to the Federation of American Scientists.

Nine countries have such weapons, and multiple treaties have sought to curb their proliferation and regulate their storage. But, while some countries have dismantled or disposed of their weapons, others are thought to be building them, or at least trying to acquire the ability to do so.

How much do you know about the science, history, and politics behind nuclear weapons?

2. What is the difference between an atom bomb and a hydrogen (or thermonuclear) bomb?

U.S. Army via Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum/AP/File
A mushroom cloud billows into the sky about one hour after an atomic bomb was detonated above Hiroshima, Japan, Aug. 6, 1945.

An atom bomb splits a plutonium atom, whereas a hydrogen bomb splits a radioactive hydrogen isotope.

Atom bombs and hydrogen bombs both derive energy from splitting atoms, or fission, but hydrogen bombs then harness that energy to power nuclear fusion, creating larger explosions. 

An atom bomb requires enriched uranium, whereas a hydrogen bomb can be produced from water – which makes the technology available to many more governments.

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About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

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