Pages 308 - 315
1. Approximately when did scientists first cause fission?
2. Give two nuclear fission reactions:
3. Name the only naturally-occurring isotope that fissions.
4. How does the amount of energy produced by fission compare to the energy released by ordinary chemical reactions?
5. In ordinary chemical and physical reactions changes, there is no overall change in the total ________; there also is no change in the total __________.
6. In nuclear reactions a lot of energy is released as the total _________ decreases.
7. If one gram of matter were completely converted into energy (according to Einstein's famous equation E = mc2), the amount of energy would equal what? (Pg 309)
8. Each time a nucleus fissions, two or three ____________ are emitted.
9. Suppose you have some fissionable material.. What would be true if you have a critical mass of it?
10. How many commercial nuclear power plants are producing electricity in the U.S.?
11. What percent of the U.S. electricity is generated in nuclear power plants?
12. In most nuclear power plants the heat energy released from fission is used to do what?
13. How often are fuel rods loaded into a nuclear reactor?
14. What percent of the uranium atoms in reactor fuel are fissionable U-235 atoms?
15. What percent of the uranium atoms in atom bombs are fissionable U-235 atoms?
16. The U in fuel rods is in what chemical compound?
17. What do control rods do to the neutrons that zoom around in a nuclear reactor?
Questions? Comments??
Robert Clark