Nuclear Fission Flashcards
How do nuclear power stations generate electricity
Nuclear power stations generate electricity using nuclear energy
In nuclear Power stations which two funerals are usually split?
Uranium- 235
Plutonium - 239
What must happen for nuclear fission to begin?
A slow moving neutron must be absorbed into a year reunion or plutonium nucleus. This edition of a neutron makes nucleus unstable causing it to split
How do chain reactions continue from the initial split?
Each time a uranium or plutonium nucleus splits up, it spits out two or three neutrons which may hit another nucleus causing continual splits
How do nuclei from chain reactions become radioactive?
When a large atom splits into it will form to new small nuclei. These new nuclei are usually radioactive because they have the wrong number of neutrons in them
Why are nuclear bombs much more powerful than ordinary bombs?
Nuclear fission gives out a lot of energy more than you get from any chemical reaction. Nuclear processes release much more energy then chemical processes to which is why nuclear bombs are so much more powerful
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the nuclear Industry in terms of Cost?
Advantage=
Nuclear fuel is cheap
Disadvantage=
Overall cost of nuclear power is high due to the cost of the power plant and final decommissioning. Dismantling takes decades
Name two elements often used as nuclear fuel
Uranium and plutonium
What does nuclear fission produce in addition to energy? Why is this a problem?
It produces a lot of radioactive waste that must be carefully disposed of
Describe how a chain reaction is set up in a nuclear reactor(4)
U-235 is bombarded with slow-moving neutrons until it captures a neutron and split into two smaller nuclei and releases two or three neutrons. These neutrons go on to start other fissions and so on creating a chain reaction
Describe how the heat energy released by nuclear fission is used to generate electricity
The heat energy is used to heat water to drive a steam turbine and generator
What is Nuclear Fission?
Nuclear fission is the splitting up of big atomic nuclei
