Premium Essay

Sunspots: Nuclear Fusion

Submitted By
Words 504
Pages 3
Nuclear fusion is the process by which multiple nuclei join together to form a heavier nucleus. The source of all the energy so generously radiated by the Sun does two things: it converts hydrogen into helium and it converts mass to energy.Sunspots are small areas that appear darker than their surrounding solar surface. Sunspot areas have strong magnetic field. Occasionally the strong magnetic field in a sunspot is overly twisted and decides to fire up like 'fire works'. Those 'fire works' are solar flares and they are above sunspots. Sunspots last for a bit shorter than a day to several days. Flares are much shorter and last for a few seconds to a few hours. Sunspots are temporary, relatively darker and relatively cooler spots in the sun's photosphere. They are typically of the size of an earth. A solar flare is a sudden, tremendous, explosive outburst of …show more content…
Earth will not be able to support life if the Sun becomes a giant star. Giant stars have large radii as their name implies. When the Sun becomes a giant star, it may become so large as to engulf Earth, in which case the planet will be destroyed. Even if this does not happen, the sun will expand so far out that the temperatures on Earth will become extremely high so that all oceans will evaporate away, and there will be no water left on Earth. So, no life which depends on water will be able to survive.Our modern, technologically complex systems - including communications, transportation, and electrical power systems - can be disrupted and damaged by space weather storms. Exposure to radiation can threaten astronauts and commercial air travelers alike, and has affected the evolution of life on Earth. Space weather probably alters the weather and climate on our planet, though we don't yet have a precise understanding of those influences. The Northern Lights are a visible result of a magnetic storm happening in our

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Informative Speech Outline

...Informative Speech: Nuclear Energy Purpose: The purpose of this speech is to inform others about the production, utilizations and impacts of nuclear energy. I. INTRODUCTION A. Attention Getter: When most people think of nuclear energy, the first thing that comes to their minds is a devastating bomb explosion or a nuclear power plant meltdown. But, in reality, nuclear energy is a sustainable energy source that has an enormous variety of uses. B. Thesis: The uses of nuclear energy range from being a clean, renewable energy source to cutting edge medical procedures. C. Credibility: The world's first exposure to nuclear energy came with the detonation of two atomic bombs in Japan in 1945. Scientists perceived a positive aspect of these terrible events; they hoped that the power of nuclear energy could be harnessed for human good. Those hopes have been recognized, but to only a small extent. Starting in the 1970s, opposition to nuclear power rose. D. Preview: I will be talking about only a fraction of the production, applications and effects /rewards of nuclear energy. Including: i. What nuclear energy is and how nuclear energy is made. ii. Uses of nuclear energy. iii. Advantages and disadvantages of nuclear energy. Transition: First, Let’s explore what nuclear energy is and how it is made. BODY First Main Point II. Nuclear energy is any method of doing work that makes use of nuclear fission or nuclear fusion reactions. The term refers to both the uncontrolled...

Words: 1131 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Russia

...Klavdia Alekseyevna Vikhireva, with whom he raised two daughters and a son before she died in 1969. He returned to Moscow in 1945 to study at the Theoretical Department of FIAN.He received his Ph.D. in 1947. After the end of World War II, he researched cosmic rays. In mid-1948 he participated in the Soviet atomic bomb project under Igor Kurchatov and Igor Tamm. The first Soviet atomic device was tested on August 29, 1949. After moving to Sarov in 1950, Sakharov played a key role in the development of the first megaton-range Soviet hydrogen bomb using a design known as Sakharov's Third Idea in Russia and the Teller-Ulam design in the United States. Before his Third Idea, Sakharov tried a "layer cake" of alternating layers of fission and fusion fuel. The...

Words: 826 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Causes and Effects of Nuclear Energy

...Causes & Effects of Nuclear Energy Read more : http://www.ehow.com/info_8208166_causes-effects-nuclear-energy.html Nuclear power is often hailed as a powerful and important alternative energy source in the quest to reduce dependency on fossil fuels. Through fusion and fission, nuclear power has many important uses such as power and national security, but it also has some controversial effects on human health and the environment. Cause: Weapons Nuclear weapons are created through nuclear fusion reactions, which occurs when two light atoms are fused at high speeds to create a larger atom with a heavier nucleus. This reaction releases monumental amounts of energy and creates large explosions. The most famous examples of nuclear weapon use were the hydrogen bombs dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945. The creation and retention of these weapons was also a main factor in the Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union. Many nations believe these weapons increase national security by dissuading other nations from attacking them. Effect: Radiation While the bombing on Japan did cause serious physical damage due to the initial explosion, the health effects of radiation from nuclear weapons can be more devastating than the original explosion. Ionizing radiation from weapons causes living cells to sicken or mutate, causing nausea, vomiting, open sores, skin irritation, burns, ulcers, internal bleeding, hair loss and cancer. Acute exposure...

Words: 543 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Sci 115 M4 Assignment 1 Discussion - the Promises and Perils of Nuclear Power

...M4 Assignment 1 Discussion - The Promises and Perils of Nuclear Power Click Link Below To Buy: http://hwaid.com/shop/sci-115-m4-assignment-1-discussion/ Assignment 1: Discussion—The Promises and Perils of Nuclear Power The term nuclear power refers to the production of electrical energy via controlled nuclear reactions. These reactions generate heat that, in turn, creates steam that runs the generators to produce electricity. Approximately 1/8th of the electricity produced in the world is derived from nuclear power. In this assignment, you will analyze the use of nuclear power as an energy resource. Respond to the following: •Discuss the scientific and technical concepts related to the use of nuclear power as an energy resource. Address the following in your response: oHow is energy released in a nuclear reaction? oHow are nuclear reactions controlled? oWhat elements are involved in nuclear power production? oWhat nuclear forces are involved? •Explain the advantages and disadvantages of nuclear energy, detailing issues related to production, delivery, cost, radiation, air quality, and waste. •Identify a country whose electricity production infrastructure relies heavily on nuclear power. Compare and contrast the use of nuclear power in the United States with the use of nuclear power in this country. Provide examples of the use of nuclear power in your community or state. •Consider the three major nuclear accidents in the history of the industry: 3-Mile Island...

Words: 287 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Nt1310 Unit 6 Essay

...They were created inside stars. 10. Nuclear fusion only releases energy when elements are higher than what nuclear fusion produce certain isotopes of lighter elements. 11. 2,8,20,28, 50, 82, 126, 114 and 184 12. It lasts 3.7 minutes 13. Because the sequence of spherical magical numbers cannot be extended this way 14. Binding energy. 15. In the shell model for the nucleus, magic numbers are numbers of nucleons at which a shell is filled Task...

Words: 710 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Pmi Project of the Year

...Institute's 2010 Project of the Year Award Gary Blake Strayer University Author Note Project Management Institute's 2010 Project of the Year Award The National Ignition Facility Project was the winner of the 2010 PMI Project of the Year Award competition. The project managed by Lawrence Livermore Laboratory was a great success because of the certified project personnel and the thorough application of the PMI standards and principals. It was put together to serve a large scientific community to explore new technologies in energy production involving new frontiers in astrophysics, material science, and nuclear science (Institute, 2012). The facility had the goal of developing self-sustaining nuclear fusion, which is the process that powers the sun and the stars, in the laboratory for the first time. It is well known by scientist that fusion power has many of the benefits of long-term renewable energy sources, such as being a sustainable energy supply compared to presently utilized sources and emitting no greenhouse gases. The finished facility contains more than 3,000 pieces of amplifier glass, 8,000 large optics, and 30,000 small optics that have been assembled into 6,206 replaceable units (PMI.org, 2010). By using PMI principles and ethics, the project design and commissioning was completed with the help of a worldwide collaboration of governments, academia and lots of industrial groups. The groups themselves were sometimes picked over and regrouped to...

Words: 584 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

The Pros And Cons Of Nuclear Energy

...People are always discussing how to make better use of nuclear energy, so people should learn more about what nuclear fission and nuclear fusion are. Nuclear fusion is two or more atoms of small mass synthesize a relatively large atom. For example, deuterium and tritium occurs nuclear interaction with each other under certain conditions, such as high temperature and high pressure. They can generate neutrons and helium -4. Rather, nuclear fission is an atom of large mass that is divided into two or more relatively small atoms. The principle of atomic bombs and the current nuclear power plants is both according to the nuclear fission. In the process, both of them will release huge energy, but the nuclearfusion releases greater energy....

Words: 1186 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Inertia

...Inertia Definition of Inertia: Inertia is the reluctance of a body to have its speed change. Newton’s Definition: The vis insita, or innate force of matter, is a power of resisting by which every body, as much as in it lies, endeavours to preserve its present state, whether it be of rest or of moving uniformly forward in a straight line. The term inertia derives from the Latin work “iner” which translates to “idle”. It was Isaac Newton who was the first person to define inertia. This was then presented as his first law of motion. Although Galileo formally introduced the concept of inertia. And as everyone knows Newton’s inspiration came from an apple that had fallen. He asked questions like why did it fall? What determined the speed at which it fell? The reason why the apple fell was because it had a force acted upon it. This force was gravity. This force is absent in space so a body will continue its path unless it hits into something. When an object is stopped abruptly the higher the speed the body was moving at the bigger the force impacted on the body that it hit. This is why it would hurt when you catch a sliothar and your hand is completely stagnant. Some day to day examples of inertia are: • Being pushed back into your seat when an airplane takes off • Being jerked forward when your car suddenly stops • The “tablecloth trick” yanking a table cloth while the dishes remain in place. Electromagnetic spectrum The electromagnetic spectrum...

Words: 1131 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

The Formation of a Star

...Armando I Cortes Nov. 17. 2025 Mrs.Lisa Smith The Formation of a Star The basic idea of star formation is gravitational collapse – the contraction of a region of gas under the influence of gravity. This is a simple process that would be expected to occur in any region of material dense enough for collisions between atoms to radiate away energy. However, the gas must be dense enough for collisions to occur and the temperature must be low enough for the atomic velocities not to be able to escape the system's gravity, so star formation only occurs in a few areas.  The sites of star formation in the galaxy are mostly located within molecular clouds – expansive, cool clouds of mostly hydrogen and helium gas. Molecular clouds are on average too diffuse to contract gravitationally, but within a cloud are regions of locally higher density, which are the sites of active star formation. It is not known exactly what causes molecular clouds and star-forming regions to be distributed as they are. However, it appears to be related to the spiral-arm structure of spiral galaxies, which is thought to be the result of density waves passing through the disk, compressing matter and igniting star formation in their wake, leaving the trails of young, hot, blue stars in their wake that are the primary feature of spiral galaxies.  The distribution of gas in these regions is probably erratic enough that once a sufficient compression comes through a large number of separated...

Words: 708 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Re: Light Pollution

...| | What is the helium fusion reaction, and why does it require much higher temperatures than hydrogen fusion? | | | | | Selected Answer: | Helium fusion reaction is the transformation of 3 Helium nuclei into one carbon nucleus. It requires much higher temperatures than hydrogen fusion because it has a greater positive charge (two protons), which requires a strong force to deal with electromagnetic repulsion. | Correct Answer: | The helium fusion reaction is the "triple alpha process". In this process three helium-4 nuclei (the alphas) are converted into one carbon-12 nucleus.The triple alpha process requires higher temperatures than proton fusion because the Coulomb barrier is larger.  | | | | | * Question 2 Needs Grading | | | What happens to a low-mass star after it exhausts its core helium? | | | | | Selected Answer: | The low-mass star dies after exhausting its core helium.  | Correct Answer: | The process of fusing helium creates carbon. Eventually the core will run out of helium, leaving an inert carbon core surrounded by a helium fusing shell (still surrounded by a hydrogen fusing shell). Both shells will contract, creating higher temperatures forcing the star to expand to a double shell-burning giant. The double shell burning will last a few million years or less. The star will never again achieve equilibrium like it had on the main sequence. Instead the star will undergo thermal pulses where the fusion rate increases dramatically...

Words: 771 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Activity #5 – Mass Per Nucleon

...don’t need to read all of chapter 10. The excerpt below is all that is needed). Step 2: Answer the following questions, in writing, in your words. 1. What is a nucleon? Protons and neutrons 2. What is fusion? Is two smaller atoms come together 3. How does mass per nucleon in a hydrogen atom compare to the mass per nucleon in a helium atom? 4. What happened to cause the mass per nucleon to change? When to two atoms comes together a pieces of mass is lost and converted into energy. 5. What is fission? Fission is when the nuclease of an atom splits into smaller pieces. 6. How does mass per nucleon change in a fission reaction? 7. How does the equation E=mc2 relate to mass per nucleon? It can find how much energy different amounts of mass can create. 8. Where does the energy released in a fusion or fission reaction come from? Is comes from the missing mass that was lost. Step 3: Submit your answers to a course mentor (naturalscience@wgu.edu) or come to a homework help session for feedback. Reading excerpt: 10.8 The Mass–Energy Relationship— Clearly, a lot of energy comes from every gram of nuclear fuel that is fissioned. What is the source of this energy? As we will see, it comes from nucleons losing mass as they undergo nuclear reactions. Early in the early 1900s, Albert Einstein discovered that mass is actually “congealed” energy. Mass and energy are two sides of the same coin, as stated in his celebrated equation E=mc2. In this equation...

Words: 1342 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Nuclear Fusion Papers

...Nuclear Fusion How does nuclear fusion work? There is fusion on the sun. Fusion only works one way. Fusion also happens on earth. Chernobyl is a bad example of nuclear explosion. One nuclear bomb can destroy an area for thousands of years. Taylor Wilson is working to help make nuclear power safer. There are many different places that it can occur, but only one way that it can happen, and almost everything you are doing is powered through fusion. Fusion occurs on the sun. Believe it or not, the sun contains 99.8% of all mass in the universe. In all of that the sun is 75% hydrogen and 25% helium which helps produce fusion. Every second the sun converts 500 million metric tons of hydrogen to helium. The type of fusion powered by the sun also...

Words: 516 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Supernova Research Paper

...What is a supernova? - A supernova is a giant star that has an extremely high pressure core that contains vast amounts of heat. This causes atomic nuclei to get squeezed together and fuse, creating progressively heavier elements. (Hydrogen => Helium => Carbon). - If the star has about 8x the suns mass, it can create temp in excess of 5x10^8°C causing carbon to fuse. - Carbon the fuses into Ne, Mg and Na. Once the core heats up to around 1x10^9°C, Ne will fuse creating more Mg and some O. These elements build up and when the core reaches about 1.5x10^9°C, Oxygen fuses, creating Si. The core heats to around 2-3x10^9°C and Si fuses. As well as some other elements, Si fusion creates Fe. - Because the star was born massive, it spent the time whilst...

Words: 1012 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Fusion Power

...Fusion Power - The Cons While fusion power may be the answer to our energy prayers, it is not currently a viable option. While there are no obvious drawbacks to the use of fusion power, we are years if not decades away from harnessing this power. Scientists must achieve the necessary temperatures, which has been done; demonstrate sustained reactions where substantial amounts of energy are produced, and complete operation of a demonstration fusion power plant. To better understand what needs to be done, one needs to understand the fusion process. To produce net power the fusion reactions of a gaseous deuterium-tritium fuel must be heated to about 100 million degrees Celsius (more than six times hotter than the interior of the sun). Since nuclei normally repel one another because they carry positive charges, their movement will coincide with their temperature - i.e. the higher the temperature, the faster they move. At a faster speed, they overcome the force of repulsion of the positive charges and fuse. These collisions release energy. To date, scientists have attained temperatures as high as 510 million degrees to create these collisions. | | The problem in producing fusion energy is in developing a device that can heat the above fuel to a high enough temperature and then confine it for a length of time that will result in more energy being released through the fusion reactions than it took to actually heat the nuclei. Nature lends a hand...

Words: 821 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Nuclear Fusion vs. Fission

...Alecia Rae Atiyeh Winter 2011 Nuclear Fusion Vs Fission At the speed we are using up fossil fuels, nuclear energy is looking more and more like a possible replacement. Nuclear energy is created in two ways, through nuclear fission and nuclear fusion. Nuclear fission is the splitting of a heavy atom into two or more parts, releasing huge amounts of energy. The release of energy can be controlled and captured for generating electricity. Nuclear fusion involves bombarding hydrogen atoms together to form helium. In the long run, nuclear fusion has greater potential than fission due to the cost and overall availability of the required isotopes, the higher energy output, and the low levels of residual waste. The cost and availability of fuel is a considerable factor when dealing with nuclear power. Fission requires an element that can be easily split in a particle accelerator, such as uranium or plutonium. Fusion, on the other hand, uses isotopes of hydrogen atoms, specifically deuterium and tritium, which can be found in all water. Uranium ores are found naturally throughout the world but must go through an expensive purification procedure before used as fuel. The unprocessed ore contains approximately 99.3% uranium-238, a non-fissionable isotope of uranium, and only about 0.7% of U-235 required for fission. One hydrogen atom out of 6700 appears as deuterium, a naturally occurring isotope of hydrogen with an extra neutron, and can easily be separated from the rest. Uranium-235...

Words: 648 - Pages: 3