If stars rely unpon the interactions of the nuclei for energy, doesnt that produce nuclear energy? plz explain

Answer 1

Stars do rely on the interactions of nuclei to produce energy. The type of nuclear interaction that stars generate is a fusion reaction. Stars are able to compress deuterium atoms together and create helium via a fusion reaction. The energy released is enormous, it can be calculated by e=mc^2.

A common misconception is that fusion takes hydrogen atoms and turns them into helium. The fusion reactions uses an isotope (element with a greater or lesser number of neutrons than the standard element on the periodic table) called deuterium or "heavy hydrogen" and slams those atoms together to create helium.

The reason it has to be deuterium is that normal hydrogen consists of 1 proton and 1 electron. Helium consists of 2 protons, 2 neutrons and 2 electrons. Deutrium which is an isotope of hydrogen contains 1 proton, 1 neutron, and 1 electron. Thus making it the only real candidate for fusing together to create helium.

The other form of nuclear energy is fission, which is the kind of enerby produced in nuclear reactors. That reaction releases far less energy than a fusion reaction, but is much easier to harness and control. Fission is the splitting of nuclei of uranium atoms by neutrons. A neutron is fired into a uranium atom at high velocity like a bullet and the nucleus of the atom will split into 2 lighter elements, while releasing more neutrons to split other atoms.

This starts a chain reaction, much like a pool table. The racked balls are the uranium atoms, and the cue ball is your neutron. When you hit the cue ball into the racked balls they go flying all over the table, some of them may stay in a group depending on where you hit it. The groups would be the lighter elements of the split nucleus, while the other balls that go flying off in different directions are the neutrons released to split other atoms.

They can control the reaction in a nuclear reactor by using water cooling and what they call "control rods" which are usually made out of cadmium or a neutron absorbing material. These are used to make sure the nuclear reactor doesn't go out of control and have a meltdown like chernobyl or 3 mile island.

If all the control rods are inserted in the reaction chamber the reactor will be considered a "cold reactor" because there will be no fission activity occurring. If they remove some of the rods it'll be considered a "hot reactor" because there's fission occurring. Though contrary to what some people believe, if a nuclear reactor goes out of control and overheats, it won't generate a nuclear explosion.

The uranium "fuel" they use is considered to be reactor grade and far too dilute to act l ike a bomb. For a bomb like blast, the uranium has to be enriched to "weapons grade" which is usually at least 96%+ purity. Most fuel grade uranium is around 30% purity.

I know this is a long explanation, but it's the best one I could think of, I hope it helps.

Answer 2

rigidity motives fusion. The sunlight is commonly made out of hydrogen and helium. Hydrogen is the least complicated factor in the universe, having in basic terms one proton and one neutron. It additionally makes and breaks molecular bonds greater certainly than different factors. The sunlight became created whilst gravity extra adequate hydrogen at the same time so as that the bright rigidity fused the hydrogen at its center into the 2d lightest factor in the universe, helium (2 protons and a couple of neutrons). This fusion prevents the sunlight's count from collapsing much greater, and finally each and every of the sunlight's hydrogen will grow to be helium, at which element it truly is going to start up fusing helium into- i think of lithium is next. it is likewise whilst the sunlight turns redder and expands to almost the size of one Earth orbit.

Answer 3

Indeed it does, and that's what makes them shine. The sun converts some quadrillion tons of hydrogen into helium every second, releasing a huge quantity of energy. But the sun is so big that this thirst for hydrogen can continue for billions of years. Mathematically, hydrogen is 1.008 amu, while helium is 4.003, so 4.032 - 4.003 = 0.029 amu is converted to energy with every helium atom produced. One amu is equivalent to 931 million electron volts.

Answer 4

Well, yes.

The Sun produces nuclear energy. That's what makes it shine.

Answer 5

Yes it does