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Perhaps the most surprising use of deleted uranium is as a shield against radiation. Because it has a long half life, about four billion years, it does not give off great amounts of radiation. But it is much better at stopping radiation than lead, so a thinner shield can be used, and protect better even though the uranium is radioactive.
Uranium has been used for other things because of its great density, including ballast and weights.
Depleted uranium has been used for antitank ammunition. It cannot produce a nuclear explosion, but is so dense and hard that at high speed, it will pass right through most tank armor.
In days past, uranium was used in dentures. That was more than 65 years ago.
Also, a long time ago, uranium was used to stain or dye glass, ceramics, leather, and wood. The use of uranium compounds in ceramics goes back to ancient times. Fiestaware brilliant red plates contained uranium oxide, but there is no government warning about safety because the amounts of uranium are small. Collectors seem not to worry about it much, but it has not been in production for a long time.
There are a lot of technical uses, ranging from radiometric dating to staining biological samples for microscopic slides.
Wiki User
∙ 14y ago
Wiki User
∙ 12y agoApplications of uranium:
- nuclear fuel for nuclear power reactors
1. Uranium is an alternative to fossil fuels, especially for countries without reserves of coal, petrol, methane.
2. Uranium don't contribute to global warming.
3. Uranium don't release carbon dioxide.
4. In the future uranium can be extracted from the sea water.
- explosive for nuclear weapons
- material for armors and projectiles
- catalyst
- additive for glass and ceramics (to obtain beautiful green or yellow colors)
- toner in Photography
- mordant for textiles
- additive for the preparation of biological samples for electron microscopy
- shielding material (depleted uranium)
- ballast (counter weights)
- and other minor applications
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How does the neutron bomb work?
A neutron bomb is a type of hydrogen bomb. It actually was a development that came from the late 1950s work by the US to make "clean hydrogen bombs" that produced very little fallout. In a conventional hydrogen bomb the tamper (device to contain the nuclear reaction as long as possible to get as much energy from it as possible) is usually made with depleted uranium because of its high density and low cost. While depleted uranium will not support a neutron chain reaction it will fission when hit by the high energy neutrons produced by the fusion reaction of the hydrogen bomb. This depleted uranium fast fission can produce up to 90% of the total yield in some hydrogen bomb designs, as well as a proportional amount of the fallout. In a "clean hydrogen bomb" the tamper is instead made of some other very dense metal that unlike uranium will not fission when hit by high energy neutrons. Lead and tungsten have been used. However the explosive yield of a "clean hydrogen bomb" will be lower than a similar conventional hydrogen bomb because there is no fission in the tamper. But as these materials do not consume the high energy neutrons, they escape from "clean hydrogen bombs". It was observed that these neutrons easily pass through tank armor and building walls, killing those inside while the lower yield produces less blast and fire damage. Thus was born the idea of the neutron bomb.
What is stronger atom bomb or nuke?
An atomic bomb is a nuclear weapon. A nuclear fusion bomb, (hydrogen, is usually much stronger than a nuclear fission bomb (uranium or plutonium). The weapons detonated in Japan during WWII measured about 15 kilotons equivalent of TNT. Today, most nuclear weapons are measured by megaton (1000X kiloton) equivalents up to a bomb built by the Russians with a possible yield of 100 megatons.
Is uranium more dense than lead?
Uranium is more dense than lead, yes. The density of the two metals is 19.1 and 11.34 grams per cubic centimeter, respectively. That makes uranium almost twice as dense as lead.
Is an atomic bomb or a nuclear bomb more powerful?
The terms "atomic bomb" and "nuclear bomb" are general terms and can pretty much be used interchangeably. That said, there isn't any difference between them, and one is not more powerful than the other in that light.
What are the parts of the nuclear bomb?
Read Richard Rhodes books "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" for fission bombs and "Dark Sun" for fusion bombs, these are the authoritative unclassified sources at this time. He can do a lot better than I could by enumerating them.
What else other than uranium 239 is the atomic bomb made of?
Not uranium 239, but uranium 235 and plutonium 239.
How enriched does uranium have to be to become a bomb?
More than 99 %
What is stronger between the atomic bomb and hydrogen bomb?
In general, a fusion bomb (hydrogen bomb) is more powerful than a fission (atomic) bomb. Fusion bombs use an atomic bomb to begin the fusion reaction.
What makes uranium lighter than other elements?
Uranium is not lighter but heavier than many of the other elements; the density of uranium is 19,05 g/cm3 and the atomic weight is 238,02891.
How many times greater was the radiation of Chernobyl than the nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
TheChernobyl RB-MK type reactors contained around 140 tons of nuclear fuel up to 50 times more than an atomic bomb. An atomic bomb only contains Uranium 235 (Weapons grade Uranium) A Nuclear reactor uses fuel rods which contains the following. Uranium 235 (Neutron Density 99.3%) Uranium 238 (Neutron Density 0.7%) (Uranium used in nuclear reactors is enriched by 3.8%) And after Nuclear fission. Plutonium 239 Fission fragments from depleted Uranium. There are several ways to enrich uranium by filtering out Uranium 238 making it usable in warhead construction. 1. A Calutron (Uses magnetic attraction to separate Uranium 235 from Uranium 238) 2. A Gas Centrifuge (Uses a special kind of gas to separate Uranium 235 from Uranium 238) I cannot remember exactly but there are more ways than listed here so this is just to give a guideline.
What are the chemicals in uranium?
Uranium is an element and therefore by definition contains no chemical other than itself.
Was it harder to make the Little Boy atomic bomb than the Fat Man atomic bomb?
Little boy was a uranium fission bomb and Fat man was a plutonium implosion type bomb. Both required the needed research. There is no record into was harder to produce.
What kind of uranium did Oak Ridge produce in World War 2 to bomb the Japanese?
Oak Ridge was built to separate Uranium 235 from Uranium 238. Uranium 235 is the fissile isotope of natural Uranium, suitable for use in bombs or power generation. 99+% of Uranium is U 238 and U 235 is less than one per cent.
Why was the h-bomb made?
To have a bomb stronger than other countries.
How did Pierre and Marie Curie discovered the presence of radioactive elements other than uranium?
Polonium and radium are discovered in wastes from uranium minerals, after uranium separation. The important radioactivity of these residues (without uranium) warned the two about the possible existence of other radioactive elements.
What does uranium and plutonium do inside a bomb?
The critical mass of plutonium is lower, plutonium is not so expensive as highly enriched uranium, the technology to obtain plutonium is more simple than the isotopic separa-tion of uranium, etc.
Did hydrogen bombs get dropped on Hiroshima?
No, the bomb dropped on Hiroshima was an atomic bomb using uranium as the fissile material.
