What do you say?

Question

You tell your friend that no machine can possibly put out more energy than is put into it, and your friend states that a nuclear reactor puts out more energy than is put into it. What do you say?

Answer 1

I don't know! I'm curious to what you said.

Answer 2

You're talking about a heat engine, I don't think a nuclear reactor qualifies as a heat engine.


And a nuclear reactor by itself does not put out more energy than put into it, it causes a nuclear reaction, and the radioactive materials such as Uranium or Plutonium releases the energy. If those materials were not present, guess what? The machine would produce less energy than was put into it.

Answer 3

The whole purpose of a nuclear reactor, (or any other type of power generator) is to produce energy, so if it didn't output more than was input, it would be pointless. Nuclear reactors release energy that is stored in the nuclei of uranium or plutonium atoms. You need to put energy into it to release it.

Other types of reactors harness other forms of stored energy. What you were probably thinking about was the law of conservation of energy, you were just applying it incorrectly.

Answer 4

Conservation of energy always applies. The energy produced in a nuclear reactor comes from the energy in the fissile material. There is a LOT of energy in a small amount of matter (e=mc^2).

Answer 5

I say to my friend that I put matter into the reactor and matter is the equivalent of energy according to E = mc², so I'm putting a LOT of energy into my reactor. In fact, a typical reactor converts only about 1% of the fissile material into energy, so my reactor has only about 0.1% efficiency.......

Answer 6

Your friend is also including the waste heat that is put out. The statement only refers to the useful energy. A medical x-ray machine only puts out about 3% useful x-rays. The rest is heat and x-rays that are to weak.

Answer 7

i agree with your friend.