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What are the differences between uranium-235 and uranium-238 in terms of their nuclear properties and applications?
Uranium-235 and uranium-238 are two isotopes of uranium with different numbers of neutrons. Uranium-235 is used in nuclear reactors and weapons due to its ability to sustain a nuclear chain reaction, while uranium-238 is mainly used in depleted uranium ammunition and as a source of fuel for nuclear reactors. The main difference between the two isotopes is their nuclear properties and applications.
What else can I help you with?
Decaying unstable element?
Uranium238
Where can the most mass be found in an atom?
Essentially all of the atom's mass is in the nucleus. In the lightest atom, that of hydrogen, it's about 99.95 percent. In the heaviest naturally occurring atom, that of Uranium238, it's about 99.979 percent.
What elements contain more than one type of atom?
Oh, dude, elements that contain more than one type of atom are called compounds. Like, they're basically like a mixtape of atoms, you know? So, water is a compound because it's made up of hydrogen and oxygen atoms hanging out together. It's like a little atom party in there.
How does the explosion of a nuclear weapon occur?
Most of them begin the same way- a "less than critical mass" of fissile material- usually plutonium- is squeezed by specially shaped high explosives into a "greater than critical mass". This permits an exponentially increasing nuclear chain reaction to take place- plutonium breaks apart into lighter elements, releases energy that breaks more plutonium into lighter elements, and releases tremendous energy as heat and radiation. Fusion weapons use this as the igniter to begin fusing very light materials (hydrogen) into heavier elements, releasing even greater energy as heat and radiation. There can also be a third stage that uses the very high energy fusion neutrons to break apart (fission) materials that normally do not fission, such as Uranium238.
What element is used in nuclear fission to produce energy?
The most likely nuclear fusion reaction to be successful in power production is between deuterium and tritium, which are both isotopes of hydrogen. The element formed in this fusion reaction is helium. So the only two elements involved are hydrogen and helium.
How are uranium238 and uranium 235 the same?
Uranium-238 and uranium-235 are both isotopes of uranium, meaning they have the same number of protons in their nucleus. They are both naturally occurring and radioactive, with uranium-235 being used in nuclear reactors and weapons due to its ability to sustain a nuclear chain reaction. Uranium-238 can also undergo nuclear reactions but is less commonly used for this purpose.
What is the bomb?
Basically a nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion.A nuclear bomb also known as an atomic bomb. This is a bomb where nuclear fission is the sole source of the energy for the explosion. This explosion occurs when uranium235 and/or plutonium239 is transformed from a subcritical mass to a supercritical mass very rapidly, when a few neutrons are then fired into that supercritical mass the chain reaction continues and cascades at an exponentially increasing rate until it results in a huge explosion. However such fission only bombs have a theoretical limit to their yield of under 1 megaton.If fusion is involved somewhere in the bomb, hydrogen nuclei (typically deuterium and tritium) fuse. By use of multiple fusion stages the yield of such bombs can be increased without theoretical limit.Some very high yield fusion bombs are enclosed in a shell of uranium238 which will not normally fission, however the very high energy fusion neutrons can cause it to fission. This one feature can provide as much as 90% of the bomb's total yield, but also increases fallout by a similar amount.
Will atoms of the same element have different masses?
In nature things called isotopes exist, when you say there are isotopes of element X that means that element X has the same number of protons and electrons but different number of neutrons (different mass number)... There you have it, two atoms of the same element that have different masses due to difference in the number of neutrons in the nucleus (Isotopes)
What does a breeder reactor produce?
Well, simply put, both are nuclear reactors. A breeder reactor is one which instead of losing it's neutron production to capture in moderators or shielding elements, absorbs most of the neutron production in the fuel specifically for the production of transuranic elements. Such reactors have been used since the 60's to facilitate in the production of fusion nuclear weapons, also known as hydrogen bombs, as these require large amounts of plutonium which can only be created in a breeder reactor. The U.N. has been discouraging the use of breeder reactors since the mid nineties and many worldwide have been shut down. This is in part due to their use in the proliferation of nuclear weapons and due to their inherent instability. There are literally dozens of types of nuclear reactors, breeders being only one. Others include pressurized water reactors, boiling water reactors, graphite moderated reactors, lead cooled reactors, or the more recent pebble bed reactors.
