Energia nuclear

• Nuclear energy was first discovered in 1934 by Enrico Fermi. The first nuclear bombs were built in 1945 as a result of the infamous Manhattan Project. The first plutonium bomb, code-namedTrinity, was detonated on July 16, 1945 in New Mexico.
• On August 6th 1945 the first uranium bomb was detonated over Hiroshima. Three days later a plutonium bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. There is over200,000 deaths associated with these detonations. Electricity wasn’t produced with nuclear energy until 1951.
• These changes are called nuclear reactions. Energy created in a nuclear reaction iscalled nuclear energy, or atomic energy.
• Nuclear energy is produced naturally and in man-made operations under human control.
Naturally: Some nuclear energy is produced naturally. For example,the Sun and other stars make heat and light by nuclear reactions.
Man-Made: Nuclear energy can be man-made too. Machines called nuclear reactors, parts of nuclear power plants, provide electricity formany cities. Man-made nuclear reactions also occur in the explosion of atomic and hydrogen bombs.
• In nuclear fission, the nuclei of atoms are split, causing energy to be released. The atomicbomb and nuclear reactors work by fission. The element uranium is the main fuel used to undergo nuclear fission to produce energy since it has many favorable properties. Uranium nuclei can be easily splitby shooting neutrons at them.
Once a uranium nucleus is split, multiple neutrons are released which are used to split other uranium nuclei. This phenomenon is known as a chain reaction.
• Thishappens only under very hot conditions. The Sun, like all other stars, creates heat and light through nuclear fusion. In the Sun, hydrogen nuclei fuse to make helium. The hydrogen bomb, humanity's mostpowerful and destructive weapon, also works by fusion.
• -The Earth has limited supplies of coal and oil. Nuclear power plants could still produce electricity after coal and oil become scarce....