Nuclear fission and fusion
- Created by: jaaaz_v
- Created on: 03-05-15 22:44
View mindmap
- Nuclear Fission and Fusion
- Fusion
- This is when two light nuclei join to make a larger nucleus
- Nuclear fusion released lots of energy
- The energy that stars release comes from nuclear fusion
- They're trying to develop fusion reactors to generate electricity
- The pressures and temperatures needed cannot be reached in ordinary containers
- An extremely strong magnetic field is needed
- Fusion doesn't produce radioactive waste, and there's a lot of hydrogen that can be used to fuel the process
- Fusion can only happen at extremely high temperatures
- 10000000 degrees
- Fission
- This is the splitting up of big atomic nuclei
- Nuclear fission is used in nuclear reactors in power stations to produce electricity
- Controlled chain reactions happen here
- The nuclei split up and release energy (in heat)
- In order for fission to happen a slow moving neutron needs to be absorbed by a uranium or plutonium nucleus
- This makes the nucleus unstable, which makes it split
- Each time it splits up two or three new neutrons are formed, which could hit another nucleus, making that split, which progresses the chain reaction
- The nuclei formed by fission are normally radioactive
- This is because they have the wrong number of neutrons
- The radioactivity makes it hard to dispose of the waste from fission
- Fission releases a lot of energy
- Nuclear processes release more energy than chemical ones
- Fusion
Comments
No comments have yet been made