Nuclear Energy :: essays research papers

thermonuclear heftiness by definition is the cipherconsumed or produced in modifying the small-arm of the nuclear nucleus. Nuclear energyis used for things such as atomic bombs, hydrogenbombs and other nuclear weapons. Nuclearenergy can too be used for poweringelectricity-generating plants all over the world.There atomic number 18 some(prenominal) arguments for and a agnizest nuclearpower. Nuclear power is an inexpensive cleansource of power. Others chance that because of thehazardous radiation emitted during the producingof the power and the radioactivity of the materialused that nuclear power is not as good as thealternatives which are fogy fuels and solarpower.(Hansen, 1993)If matter changes state or composition, it isaccompanied by the exertion of energy.Processes such as combustion produce energy byrearranging the atoms or molecules of thatsubstance.(Brain, 1998) An example of this is thecombustion of methane (natural gas) CH(4) + 2O(2) = CO(2) + 2H(2)O + energyIn this example the amount of energy released iseight electron volts or 8 eV. The electron volt social unitis the unit used by nuclear physicists. The electronvolt represents the gain in kinetic energy when anelectron is accelerated through a potential drop ofone volt.(Brain, 1998)The around commons nuclear response is nuclear fission. Nuclear fission is the process in which a sour nucleus combines with a neutron andseparates the heavy nucleus into two lighternuclei.(Roy, 1993) The most typical fission reception is that of uranium-235 it is as follows92 U235 + 1 neutron = 38 Sr96 + 54 XE138 + 2neutrons + energyAnother type of nuclear reaction is nuclear fusion.Nuclear fusion occurs when two light elementscombine to trend a heavier atom.(Grisham, 1993)An example of this is1 H(2) + 1 H(3) = 2 He(4) +1 neutron + energyNuclear FissionNuclear fission is a complex process, barely manyproducts are formed during this process. Not onlythe two nuclei entirely also neutrons, beta particles,neut rinos and da Gamma rays are created during thefission process.(Roy, 1993) There are more thanfifty different ways a nucleus may undergo fission.Some of the ways are much more common thanothers. During the fission process the nucleusbreaks into to unequal parts, one lighter memberand a heavier fragment. These nuclei are formedwith excess energy that they do not usually have intheir ground state they must flake out the extra energy.They release this extra energy in the form ofgamma radiation or sometimes neutron emission.The primary fragments are rich in neutrons and areradioactive. Uranium-235 which contains 92protons and 143 neutrons are more likely to undergo fission when bombarded by low-energyneutrons.(Hansen, 1993)Nuclear Fission Used in BombsThe fission process was discovered in the late