Nuclear Energy :: essays research papers

Nuclear elan vital by definition is the energyconsumed or produced in modifying thecomposition of the atomic nucleus. Nuclear energyis used for things such(prenominal)(prenominal) as atomic bombs, hydrogenbombs and other atomic weapons. Nuclearenergy can also be used for poweringelectricity-generating plants all over the world.There be many arguments for and against nuclearpower. Nuclear power is an inexpensive cleansource of power. Others feel 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 fossil fuels and solarpower.(Hansen, 1993)If matter changes state or composition, it isaccompanied by the production 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 a mount of energy released iseight electron volts or 8 eV. The electron volt 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 most common nuclear reaction is nuclearfission. Nuclear fission is the affect in which aheavy nucleus coincides with a neutron andseparates the heavy nucleus into two lighternuclei.(Roy, 1993) The most typical fissionreaction 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 form 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 treat, hardly manyproducts are formed during this process. Not onlythe two nuclei but also neutrons, beta particles,neutrinos and gamma rays are created duri ng thefission process.(Roy, 1993) There are to a greater extent 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 fragmentand a heavier fragment. These nuclei are formedwith excess energy that they do not usually have intheir ground state they must lose the extra energy.They release this extra energy in the form ofgamma radiation or sometimes neutron emission.The first-string 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 employ in BombsThe fission process was discovered in the late