The Basics – Nuclear energy is the energy inside an atom. This energy comes from the forces that hold the nucleus of the atom together. Today, we understand how to capture this extremely potent energy and use it to generate electricity. The ability to generate large amounts of energy from very small amounts of matter was first proposed by Albert Einstein.
QUESTIONS: The Basics – To produce electric power, the energy produced by splitting an atom is released how?
Advantages of Nuclear Energy – Today, approximately 20% of the electricity produced in the United States is generated using nuclear energy. Nuclear Power Plants use controlled nuclear fission of uranium atoms to create heat.
QUESTIONS: Advantages of Nuclear Energy – How much of the electricity produced in the United States is generated using nuclear energy?
Disadvantages of Nuclear Energy – Nuclear Power Plants use controlled nuclear fission of uranium atoms to create heat. This heat is then used to turn water into steam, which in turn powers electrical generators. Today, approximately 20% of the electricity produced in the United States is generated using nuclear energy, but nuclear power has some definite disadvantages.
QUESTIONS: Disadvantages of Nuclear Energy – What aspect of generating nuclear power has an environmental impact?
Nuclear Reactions – Matter is anything that has mass and takes up space. At the most elemental level, all matter is composed of atoms. Different elements are made up of different kinds of atoms. Every atom has a nucleus that contains protons and neutrons and is surrounded by electrons.
QUESTIONS: Nuclear Reactions – There are two main types of nuclear reactions: fission and fusion. Fusion, which means joining together, is the process of joining the nuclei of atoms to create a larger, stable nucleus.
Fusion – Fusion is the process of joining the nuclei of atoms to create a larger, stable nucleus. Fusion, which means joining together, is the opposite of fission, which means breaking apart.
QUESTIONS: Fusion – Fusion reactions occur naturally in stars. These fusion reactions are called proton-proton chain reactions because in these reactions, two protons collide to form a deuteron.
Fission – Fission is the process of splitting an atom. Splitting an atom releases an enormous amount of energy which, when released in a slow and controlled matter, can be used to generate electricity.
QUESTIONS: Fission – The fuel used to generate nuclear energy is uranium. There are many isotopes of uranium, but only uranium-235 undergoes fission.
Nuclear Reactors – A nuclear reactor is a device which maintains a chain reaction by producing a steady flow of neutrons generated by the fission of the nuclei of heavy atoms, typically uranium-235 or plutonium.
QUESTIONS: Nuclear Reactors – Nuclear reactions in nuclear plants are controlled by controlling the neutrons. Control rods absorb neutrons, and place them into the reactor in a controlled way.
Nuclear Physics – Atomic physics is about atoms, but nuclear physics is the study of just the nucleus of the atom. Physicists are still working to understand the part of the atom that surrounds the nucleus.
QUESTIONS: Nuclear Physics – Another thing that nuclear physicists study is called antimatter. In order to understand antimatter, remember that a regular atom has protons (positive particles) and neutrons (neutral particles) in the nucleus and electrons (negative particles) orbiting the nucleus. T
The Development of Nuclear Weapons – Einstein understood the devastating potential of what he had discovered. Fearful that such a technology would end up in the hands of Hitler and the Nazis, Einstein wrote to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt about the bomb. Roosevelt then set up the Manhattan Project, which ultimately produced the atomic bomb.
QUESTIONS: The Development of Nuclear Weapons – The objective of the project was to research and develop an atomic bomb. The project succeeded, and the first atomic bomb was tested in the New Mexico desert on July 16th, 1945. The explosion was as powerful as 18,000 tons of TNT, estimated to be three times hotter than the center of the sun.
Three Mile Island – Three Mile Island is located in the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania, and the location of a nuclear power plant where an accident occurred on March 8, 1979.
QUESTIONS: Three Mile Island – On Three Mile Island, one of the reactors failed. A valve stuck open allowed water out of the reactor. As this water was used to keep the reactor cool, the reactor overheated.