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Fission and Fusion Energy of today and tommorrow What is nuclear force? • The strong nuclear force is the force is the attractive force that binds protons and neutrons together in the nucleus of an atom • This force exists over VERY short distances • When the strong nuclear force struggles to overcome the electric forces, the atom becomes unstable and therefore radioactive • All elements with 83 or more protons are radioactive Fission • Fission is the splitting of a nucleus into smaller parts • Fission was 1st explained by Meitner in 1939, but was 1st demonstrated by Hahn and Strassman in 1938 accidentally • In fission tremendous energy can be produced from very small amounts of mass • When fission occurs small amounts of mass are lost and energy is produced • This was explained by E=mc2 • Uncontrolled nuclear fission is how atomic weapons are made. Nuclear Power • In a nuclear power plant uranium-235 undergoes fission in a reactor • Nuclear power plants do not give off greenhouse gases • Radioactive waste is by-product that must be dealt with as it remains harmful to humans for 100s of thousands of years • The largest nuclear accident occurred in Chernobyl in the Ukraine, where radioactive waste was released into the atmosphere after a nuclear core meltdown Fusion • Fusion is the process where two nuclei come together to form a single nuclei creating one large nucleus and releasing large amounts of energy • The sun in powered by fusion • At the sun’s temperature matter exists as plasma, a state at which atoms can be stripped of their electrons • This one day may provide clean cheap energy, but that day is still a long way off