How is nuclear energy created?

Answer 1

Nuclear energy is produced by one of two methods, fusion or fission. Fusion is the bonding of atomic nuclei or nuclear particles (nucleons - protons and neutrons). Fission, on the other hand is the splitting of the atom. As the atoms fuse or split they release energy. Lots of it. And most of it is heat energy. In nuclear weapons, the energy is released "all at once" to create a blast. If the energy is released in a "controlled" way, we can release heat at a "useable" rate and apply it to boiling water to make steam. In fusion, protons or neutrons or the nuclei of atoms are forced together and are fused to make a new atomic nucleus. The release of lots and lots of energy accompanies this reaction. That's what powers stars. Currently we can't really do any fusion reactions to make useful power. There are a few agencies working on fusion devices, but the high temperatures required to attain fusion require very special materials and controls. The current "state of the art" fusion facility is the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (and a link is provided). Fusion is unlikely to become a useful source of power for many years. But what about fission? Nuclear fission involves the splitting of large atoms, usually uranium (or sometimes plutonium). When large atoms fission they produce two smaller atoms or fission fragments (and a couple of neutrons and lots of energy). The total mass of the products is less than the mass of the original atom. This mass difference is turned into energy in accordance with the Einstein equation E=mc2. Most of the energy appears in the recoil of the fission fragments, and the heat that is generated is considerable. It is that heat that we capture to turn water into steam to generate electricity.

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Answer 2

nuclear energy is produced when two protons present inside the nucleas are bound together. As we know that when we will bring two protons together, they will repel each other. So, to bond them very very high temperature is needed which is lacks of centigrades. On bonding them together, huge amount of energy is released which we use. This phenomenon is known as nuclear fusion. Generally nuclear fusion is done by bonding two hydrogen ions to form helium.