Part A: Nuclear Fussion and Fission

Fissioning an atom is the process of splitting it into smaller equal parts that are half the original mass. Fission occurs when a nucleus gets a neutron or it can just happen on its own. Fusion is the process of gathering to nuclei and bonding them together to for one atom. Fission and fusion are different because fission is when the nucleus splits and fusion is when the atom tries to gather “stuff” to put it back together. (Sayfa, 2005)
visual.merriam-webster.com
Nuclear Fusion is a process when to atoms bond to another atom. The disadvantage about nuclear fusion is that it takes more energy to make it then is produced. This is becuase you have to heat it up to get the energy out of the atoms nucleus. The advantages to nuclear fission is it produces the same amount of energy as it had before and is the best modern energy source. It also does not produce any harmful radioactive gases. (AJ Software, 2008)



people.moreheadstate.edu

Part B: A Distinction between nuclear reactions and chemical reactions

Creating a nuclear reaction is not simple. In power plants, it involves splitting uranium atoms, and that process releases energy as heat and neutrons that go on to cause other atoms to split. This splitting process is called nuclear fission. In a power plant, sustaining the process of splitting atoms requires the involvement of many scientists and technicians.





















(Alternate Energy Sources, 2008)

Part C: A comparison of the amount of energy released through a chemical reaction and nuclear fusion and fission.

In general, nuclear fusions and fissions will produce more energy than a chemical reaction. This is because the binding force or strong force holding the nucleus of an atom together takes more energy than the amount of energy keeping electrons and the nucleus.

In a chemical reaction an exchanging of electrons occur which will either result in an exothermic or an endothermic reaction. When the electrons are taken or giving or shared, depending on whether it's an ionic or covalent bond, they will always go into a state that takes less energy to hold. So when this happens, the energy that was previously used to hold the electrons and the nucleus together is then released in the form of light or heat. That's how the energy is produced in a chemical reaction.Nuclear fusions and fissions work differently from that though.

For a nuclear fusion to occur the nuclei of two atoms must be forced together. This takes a lot of energy because both charges of the nuclei are positive and therefore repel each other but this electromagnetic force can be overcome by speeding up the atoms to great speeds (speeding the up is just heating the atoms up to thermonuclear temps). Once the nuclei combine they then form a new heavier nucleus and a free atom which will generally release more energy than it took to create the fusion because some of the energy that had been used to keep the nucleus together was released in the process of fusing the nuclei into one.To produce a nuclear fission a single neutron must be shot at a high speed toward a nucleus. When this happens the added neutron causing the ratio of protons to neutrons to become different and unstable. So the nucleus will then split into two new nuclei that are more stable than the previous nucleus. In this process single neutrons will be released at great speeds which can then start another nuclear fission. The energy produced from the nuclear fission is once again due to the strong force that had been holding the nucleus together and is no longer needed.

So as you can see, in both nuclear fusion and fission the energy produced is the strong force energy that had previously been used to hold the nuclei together and the energy made in an exothermic chemical reaction is from the energy holding the electrons and nuclei together. And since the strong force energy is greater than the energy holding the electron to the nuclei a nuclear fission and fusion will generally be stronger than a chemical reaction. (Wikipedia, 2009)

Part D: Compare and contrast the properties of elements and their radioactive isotopes

Radioactive isotope or radioisotope, natural or artificially created isotope of a chemical element having an unstable nucleus that decays, emitting alpha, beta, or gamma rays until stability is reached. Isotopes are two forms of an element with the same atomic number but different mass number. Isotopes can be looked at by analyzing the structure of atoms. There are three kind of simple particles an atom contains: Protons, neutrons, and electrons. Only Hydrogen is an exception to the sentence above because it doesn't contain neutrons. Protons and neutrons are in the nucleus and the electrons are outside of the nucleus in electron clouds. The way you tell the difference between atoms is the number of protons in the nucleus. The number of protons in the nucleus is called the atomic number of the atom. The atomic mass of an atom is the number of neutrons and protons combined. So if an atom had 3 neutrons and 3 protons it would have a mass number of 6. Most elements have at least two stable isotopes. The term stable here means not radioactive.

Radioactive isotopes
A radioactive isotope is an isotope that spontaneously breaks apart, changing into some other isotope. As an example, potassium has a radioactive isotope with mass number 40, 40K or potassium-40. This isotope breaks down into a stable isotope of potassium, 39K or potassium-39.
Radioactive isotopes are much more common than are stable isotopes. At least 1,000 radioactive isotopes occur in nature or have been produced synthetically in particle accelerators (atom-smashers) or nuclear reactors (devices used to control the release of energy from nuclear reactions).

(Advameg Inc., 2008)

Part E: How isotopes can be used in research, medicine, industry, and electricity generation

Isotopes are used for many different things in medicine. Stable isotopes are used to diagnose diseases and understand metabolic pathways in humans. They can also be used in geology, nutrition, drug testing and physics. Radioisotopes are more commonly used in medicine then stable isotopes. The branch of medicine that uses radioisotopes is called Nuclear Medicine, which includes; diagnosis, radiotherapy, biochemical analysis, and therapeutics. Diagnosis uses radioactive tracers (which have short lives so they don't harm the body as much) which are put into the body by injection, inhalation or orally. A camera can then detect where the radioactive tracers are in the body, and the physician can look for indications of abnormal conditions.
Isotopes are used for a couple of things in research. For example, radioactive carbon 14 can be digested by humans and traced through a body by physiologists. This can be used to find out how things in the body move. Chemists can also you isotopes as "tracers". Isotopes can also be used in electronics to stimulate research.Radioisotopes can be used in industry for gamma and x-ray analysis, gamma radiography, gauging, gamma sterilisation, and mixing uses. For example gamma rays can be used to determine the ash content of a coal line. The gamma rays can find the content of ash because the ash has a higher atomic number than coal. Gamma radiation can be used to sterilise medical products, wool, or food. It works by putting the medical products in a nuclear reactor then the reactor is bombarded with gamma radiation. (Time Inc., 2009)

Part F: Types of radiation produced from nuclear reactions

Three types of radiation are given off by naturally occurring radioactive compounds. These types of radiation were given the names of the first three letters of the Greek alphabet. alpha, beta and gamma.

Alpha- release of an alpha particle from a nucleus. It consist of two protons and two neutrons. They are identical to the nucleus of a helium atom. Large radioactive nuclei give off alpha particles to become nuclei of atoms of different elements. Alpha have the greatest charge and mass. They can travel 7cm through air, and can be stopped by paper or clothing. (Welch, 2003)

Beta- release of a beta particle from a nucleus. Beta can be either an electron or a positron. A neutron breaks into a proton and an electron. The nucleus than becomes the nucleus of a different element. This is very similar to alpha particles. Beta has a 1- or 1+ charge and almost no mass. They are more penetrating than alpha particles, and travel about 1m through air, but are stopped by 3mm of aluminum. (Welch, 2003)

Gamma- the release of gamma rays from a nucleus. This occurs after alpha or beta as the particles in the nucleus shift to a more stable arrangement. This doesn't cause one element to change into another. Gamma has no charge or mass and are the most penetrating. They are blocked by very dense, thick materials, such as a few cm. of lead, or a few meters of concrete. Radiation can also be used for positive things just as well as negative things. Radioactive isotopes can help detect defects in structures. Radiation is use to test the thickness of metal sheets just as they are made. Radioactive isotopes can also determine the age of objects. Now you know that radiation can be used for good things just as it can be used for bad things. (Welch, 2003)

Part G: How interactions within the atoms produce chage

(Intermolecular and Intramolecular Forces)

Electromagnetic force causes the intramolecular reactions to occur. Opposites charges attract and similar charges repel. The intramolecular reactions are ionic covalent and metallic. These each occur with different types of atoms. Ionic boding occurs between a metal and a nonmetal and Metallic bonding occurs between two metals. Covalent bonding allows atoms to share their electrons.Weak force causes radiation and decay within the atom which causes the matter to change.Strong force gives an atom shape by helping the atom stay together. intermolecular forces are forces that act between stable molecules or between functional groups of macromolecules. (Clark, 2000)

References

Part A:

(1998-2008). Atomic Archive. Retrieved February 22, 2009, from Nuclear Fission: Basics Web site: http://www.atomicarchive.com/Fission/Fission1.shtml http://www.atomicarchive.com/Fission/Fission1.shtml

Part B:

Alternate Energy Sources, (2006-2008). Alternate Energy Sources. Retrieved March 3, 2009, from What is nuclear energy? Web site: http://www.alternate-energy-sources.com/images/nuclearreaction3.jpg

Part C:

Wikipidea, (2009). Wikipidea. Retrieved February 202009, from Nuclear Fusion Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fusion

Part D:

Advameg Inc., (2008). Isotope. Retrieved February 18, 2009, Web site: http://www.scienceclarified.com/Io-Ma/Isotope.html

Part E:

Time Magazine, (1946, June 17). Isotopes for Research. Retrieved February 18, 2009, from Time Web site: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,793096,00.html

Part F:

Holt Science & technology, Interaction of Matter: Holt,Rinehart, and Winston 2/15/09

Part G:

Intermolecular and Intramolecular Forces. http://virtual.yosemite.cc.ca.us/webbg/Chem101/Ch11lecture/IntermolecForces.htm

(2009). Molecule. Retrieved February 20, 2009, from Wikipedia Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecule

(2009). Marcomolecule. Retrieved February 20, 2009, from Wikipedia Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macromolecule