One often hears the statement, "Nuclear energy production is fundamentally different from chemical energy production (such as burning of coal) because the nuclear case involves a change of mass." Critique this statement. Discuss the similarities and differences of the two kinds of energy production.

Short Answer

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Due to the change in matter's identity, nuclear reactions produce more energy as compared to chemical reactions.

Step by step solution

01

Define Nuclear Energy and Chemical Energy

Nuclear energy is the energy stored in the nucleus of an atom. All stuff in the cosmos is made up of atoms, which are tiny particles. At most cases, an atom's mass is concentrated in the nucleus's centre. Neutrons and protons are the two subatomic particles that make up the nucleus.

The energy stored in chemical compounds, bonds, molecules and atoms. It is produced as a by-product of a chemical reaction, which is known as an exothermic reaction. Biomass, batteries, natural gas, petroleum, and coal are examples of chemical energy that has been stored.

02

Similarities and Differences in these two Energy Production

Nuclear energy is created by nuclear reactions that alter the identity of objects, whereas chemical energy is created by breaking the bonds between molecules, which is then turned to heat. When compared to chemical reactions, the amount of energy produced by nuclear energy is enormous. This large disparity in generated energy is due to the tight links between the nucleus elements.

Nuclear energy is extremely dangerous since it emits a large number of high-energy radiations, whereas chemical reactions emit less harmful radiation.

Thus, nuclear reactions produce more energy than chemical reactions because of the change in the identity of matter. Therefore, due to the change in matter's identity, nuclear reactions produce more energy as compared to chemical reactions.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Question: Give brief explanations for your answers to each of the following questions: (a) You hold a 1 kg book in your hand for 1 min. How much work do you do on the book? (b) In a circular pendulum how much work is done by the string on the mass in one revolution? (c)For a mass oscillating horizontally on a spring, how much work is done by the spring on the mass in one complete cycle? In a half cycle?

A proton(H1)and a deuteron ((H2), “heavy” hydrogen) start out far apart. An experimental apparatus shoots them toward each other (with equal and opposite momenta). If they get close enough to make actual contact with each other, they can react to form a helium-3nucleus and a gamma ray (a high-energy photon, which has kinetic energy but zero rest energy):H1+2H3He+y

This is one of the thermonuclear or fusion reactions that takes place inside a star such as our Sun.

The mass of the proton is 1.0073 u(unified atomic mass unit,1.7×10-27kg), the mass of the deuteron is 2.0136 u, the mass of the helium-3nucleus is 3.0155 u, and the gamma ray is massless. Although in most problems you solve in this course it is adequate to use values of constants rounded to two or three significant figures, in this problem you must keep at least six significant figures throughout your calculation. Problems involving mass changes require many significant figures because the changes in mass are small compared to the total mass. (a) The strong interaction has a very short range and is essentially a contact interaction. For this fusion reaction to take place, the proton and deuteron have to come close enough together to touch. The approximate radius of a proton or neutron is about1×10-15m. What is the approximate initial total kinetic energy of the proton and deuteron required for the fusion reaction to proceed, in joules and electron volts (1eV=1.6×10-19J)? (b) Given the initial conditions found in part (a), what is the kinetic energy of theHe3plus the energy of the gamma ray, in joules and in electron volts? (c) The net energy released is the kinetic energy of theHe3plus the energy of the gamma ray found in part (b), minus the energy input that you calculated in part (a). What is the net energy release, in joules and in electron volts? Note that you do get back the energy investment made in part (a). (d) Kinetic energy can be used to drive motors and do other useful things. If a mole of hydrogen and a mole of deuterium underwent this fusion reaction, how much kinetic energy would be generated? (For comparison, aroundare obtained from burning a mole of gasoline.) (e) Which of the following potential energy curvesin Figure 6.87 is a reasonable representation of the interaction in this fusion reaction? Why?

As we will study later, the average kinetic energy of a gas molecule is32kbT, whereis the “Boltzmann constant,”1.4×10-23J/K, andis the absolute or Kelvin temperature, measured from absolute zero (so that the freezing point of water is273K). The approximate temperature required for the fusion reaction to proceed is very high. This high temperature, required because of the electric repulsion barrier to the reaction, is the main reason why it has been so difficult to make progress toward thermonuclear power generation. Sufficiently high temperatures are found in the interior of the Sun, where fusion reactions take place.

Use energy conservation to find the approximate final speed of a basketball dropped from a height of 2m (roughly the height of a professional basketball player). Why don't you need to know the mass of the basketball?

You bring a boat toward the dock by pulling on a rope with a force of130 N through a distance of 6 M . (a) How much work do you do? (Include the appropriate sign.) (b) Then you slow the boat down by pushing against it with a force of 40 N, opposite to the boat’s movement of. How much work do you do? (Include the appropriate sign.) (c) What is the total amount of work that you do?

You throw a ball of mass 160gupward (Figure 6.79). When the ball is 2mabove the ground, headed upward (the initial state), its speed is 19m/s. Later, when the ball is again 2mabove the ground, this time headed downward (the final state), its speed is 19m/s. What is the change in the kinetic energy of the ball from initial to final state?

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