The energy produced by the Sun has this origin.įor nuclear fusion to occur, the cores of positive charge must be able to overcome the electrostatic forces of repulsion in their approach. This mass defect gives rise to a great release of energy. Nuclear fusion is a reaction in which two atoms with two very light nucleus join together to form a atom with a more stable and heavier nucleus, with a mass slightly less than the sum of the masses of the initial nucleus. The results of this reaction are that, in just a fraction of the time, the fused nucleus release an energy which is a million times larger than that obtained through other means of energy production, such as combustion through fossil fuels.įissioned nucleus release energy one million times greater than that obtained. Fission could be generated spontaneously, but it requires the existence of a neutron capable of striking the necessary energy. On the one hand, the critical mass of the fissile material must exceed a certain threshold of quantity in this material for the reaction to take place and on the other hand, the geometry of that material must also be adequate. This is a multiplier effect often referred to as a chain reaction.įor this fission chain reaction to happen, certain conditions must be met. These neutrons, in turn, can cause further fission reactions by interacting with other fissionable nucleus that will emit new neutrons, and so on. In this process two or three neutrons and gamma rays are emitted, and causes the release of large amounts of energy. These lighter atoms are called fission products. By capturing an incident neutron, that nucleus becomes unstable and splits into two nucleus of lighter atoms. Nuclear fission is the reaction that occurs in the nucleus of a heavy atom. We will begin by explaining what nuclear fission consists of. To do this, we must familiarize ourselves with nuclear fission and nuclear fusion, with the differences between the two, and with the advantages and disadvantages of using one or the other system. “Those were small bombs, and they were bad enough.” Hydrogen bombs, he said, would result in a yield of about 100,000 kilotons of TNT, up to several million kilotons of TNT, which would mean more deaths.To understand how nuclear energy works, the first thing we must know are its processes. “Those were the little guys,” Morse said. Morse said the atomic bombs dropped on Japan were each equivalent to just about 10,000 kilotons of TNT. “The extra yield is going to give you more bang,” Morse said. However, more energy is released during the fusion process, which causes a bigger blast. In both cases, a significant amount of energy is released, which drives the explosion, experts say. “The way the hydrogen bomb works - it’s really a combination of fission and fusion together,” said Eric Norman, who also teaches nuclear engineering at UC Berkeley. The hydrogen bomb relies on fusion, the process of taking two separate atoms and putting them together to form a third atom. To make a hydrogen bomb, one would still need uranium or plutonium as well as two other isotopes of hydrogen, called deuterium and tritium. “You have to master the A-bomb first,” Hall said.Īn atomic bomb uses either uranium or plutonium and relies on fission, a nuclear reaction in which a nucleus or an atom breaks apart into two pieces. Simply speaking, experts say a hydrogen bomb is the more advanced version of an atomic bomb.
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