Nukes n’ stuff

Eyyyyyy, what’s going on. Once again, it’s Jason, and I’m back with yet another SBC post.

Today, I’m taking a dip in the pool known as science. In this week’s challenges, we had to choose scientific topics and do a bit of research on them. If you know me at all, you probably know that imma pick something unnecessarily advanced, and something that has to do explosions. Let’s take a look at nuclear reactors!

Tama66 / Pixabay

So, nuclear reactors take usage of something called nuclear fission to power them. Nuclear fission is when an unstable type of atom or element, such as plutonium or uranium (the usual stuff), has its nucleus ripped in half. I kid you not. In case you didn’t know, the nucleus is the centre of the atom. Here’s a diagram:

Uranium, for example, is incredibly unstable due to an unbalance of protons and neutrons (the stuff in the nucleus). When the nucleus splits, energy is released and can cause many chain reactions, which is why many of the atoms are complied together. That’s how nuclear energy is released. However, nuclear fusion is when two halves of a nucleus are combined. This is capable of producing a ton of energy, but is incredibly hard to harness, which is why it’s better to stick to fission. If my text is hard to understand, here’s a few videos about it.

The reason I picked these topics was simple. I wanted to figure out how nuclear reactions and fissions worked. Nuclear energy is often talked about, but not a lot of people actually know how it works. Also, I’ve also been a huge fan of Mr. Burns from The Simpsons.

Now, I’m also required to make a little quiz about nuclear fission and fusion, so I’ll make a little “two truths and a lie” below. However, I’m going to tweak that a little bit. It is now: 6 truths and 3 lies. The rules are simple. I have listed 9 facts below. Pick out the ones you think that are lies. Check the answer key below afterwards for the answers. Once again, as I said on my emoji quiz, please don’t cheat.

1: Nuclear fusion is used in reactors.

2: Atoms are made up of protons, electrons, and neutrons.

3: Uranium and Plutonium are commonly used as they are unstable.

4: Stability depends on the number of neutrons and electrons.

5: The nucleus is the centre of the atom.

6: The nucleus is made up of proton and electrons.

7: Nuclear fission is when the nucleus is ripped apart.

8: Nuclear fusion is incredibly hard to harness.

9: Mr. Burns runs the nuclear power plant and has an assistant named Smithers.

Alright. Ready for the answers?

are you sure?

better not be cheating!

Ok. The answers were (drumroll) numbers:

1, 4, and 6!

Get them right? Good job I’d you did, or didn’t. I hope you learned something, and if you didn’t, you’re either some sort of genius or I’ve failed.

This is Jason, signing off.