Unlocking the Nuclear Power of the Atom

Nuclear energy is locked up in the extremely tiny cores of atoms, their nuclei. How do we unleash this incredible potential energy? It turns out that it is energetically favourable to break up large atomic nuclei into smaller nuclei. This means that if we take a heavy element, like Uranium-235, and split it, there will be a net release of energy in the reaction. This is what we call nuclear fission.

Alternatively, nuclear fusion is even more energetic than fission. Fusion is the creation of larger elements from smaller ones. This is also energetically favourable, meaning that energy will be released, when fusing elements up to iron-56. However, fusion is not easy to achieve since two nuclei will repel each other very strongly due to the force of electrical repulsion, called coulombic repulsion. Fusion occurs within stars due to the immense temperatures and pressure within.

Uranium-235 is extremely amenable to fission, but it is found in nature in small amounts, approximately 0.7 percent of naturally occurring Uranium. A much more common isotope of Uranium is Uranium-238. However, this atom tends to absorb some of the neutrons that we’d want to be available to fission Uranium-235. In order to produce weapons grade Uranium, we would typically want the U-235 content to be enriched to 90 percent or more of the total Uranium composition

#uranium #plutonium #nuclear #fission #fusion

Видео Unlocking the Nuclear Power of the Atom канала Oddly Reel