Nuclear Power (Fission Process)

Nuclear Power (Fission Process)

Nuclear Power (Fission)
Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman discovered fission in 1938. Other experiments followed that showed the energy released in fission was about 100 million times greater than a chemical reaction. Fission is the process of splitting atoms; a neutron causes the nucleus of a uranium atom to split. The nucleus of an atom splits into smaller parts-liberating energy in the process of heat. The amount of heat liberated by splitting a single atom is minute. But if we multiply this millions or billions of times, then we start to liberate some serious energy which is nuclear energy. Since 1956 the prime focus has been on the technological evolution of reliable nuclear power plants. Hahn and Strassman showed that fission not only released a lot of energy but that it also released additional neutrons which could cause fission in other uranium nuclei and possibly a self-sustaining chain reaction leading to an enormous release of energy.
Uranium was discovered in 1789 by Martin Klaproth, a German chemist, and named after the planet Uranus. Bohr soon proposed that fission was much more likely to occur in the uranium-235 isotope than in U-238 and that fission would occur more effectively with slow-moving neutrons than with fast neutrons. Uranium, a radioactive chemical material, is the course of nuclear power. A dense material found in Earth’s crust. The critical mass alone of uranium cannot generate nuclear power. If the neutrons in the core move too quickly, the uranium atoms cannot absorb them. This prevents fission from taking place so the core uses a moderator, slowing down the neutrons. Water, the most commonly used moderator, slows down the flying neutrons enough so they can be absorbed by other uranium atoms and produces heat.
Fission of heavy elements is an exothermic reaction in which it can release large amounts of energy as electromagnetic radiation and kinetic energy of the fragments. Don’t really get what fission is about?...

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