All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk. - ROnald REAGAN+
My partner Marcus and I, The Nuclear Power Rangers, have decided to outlet our strange interest in things that go boom. (Radioactive elements.)
While researching things that go boom, we stumbled upon a couple of ideas. 1. Nuclear Bombs don't explode. 2. We want to know what does. We decided to pursue that second idea. Below is the result of what could have been. Inquiry Question: What reaction do nuclear power plants use to generate electricity, how can future nuclear power plants be more efficient when generating electricity? Before we could answer this all important INQUIRY QUESTION a little bit of research had to be done concerning the question. With a little bit of personal knowledge, some help from Wikipedia and a pinch of internet scouring Marcus and I crafted the definitive texts to summarize our research. What is Nuclear Fission? Nuclear fission is the splitting of a large atom into two or more smaller atoms. Nuclear fission is a process not found in nature and is currently employed by nuclear power plants in the generation of energy. The amount of energy dispersed by nuclear fission is ten times greater than the amount of energy dispersed by typical chemical reactions. Nuclear fission is generally considered an easier reaction to set forth, as it does not require much energy to impose. The fission process is however highly unstable and creates many radioactive particles during the reaction cycle. What is Nuclear Fusion? Nuclear fusion is the fusing of two or more smaller atoms into a larger one. The process is imposed by heat and pressure, and generates three to four times more energy than nuclear fission. The fusion cycle occurs naturally, and is found in stars like our sun. Nuclear fusion is not utilized by nuclear power plants as fusion technology is young and relatively inefficient. The process is much more stable than fission and generates few radioactive particles. With refined technology, fusion has the potential needed to fill the shoes of fission. *More information can be found here* |