Einstein nuclear fission equation series#

We have also seen that the Sun is slowly converting its hydrogen into helium-4. You will find that when the magnets are far apart they are easy to move towards each other, but as they get closer more and more energy is required in order to push them together:Īs we have seen, the Sun's fusion is exothermic, that is, more energy is 'produced' than was entered into the system. If not, find two magnets and try to push either both the negative or both the positive ends together. You may have experienced something similar yourself.

The closer we try to push the protons together the more energy we need to overcome the repulsion. If we bring two protons together they repel each other. the nucleus of a hydrogen 'atom') has a positive electrical charge, that is, it acts like the positive end of a magnet. Strictly speaking we should now call the 'atom' an 'ion', but in this page we will continue to call it an atom in order to keep things simple (with apologies to chemists). If the hydrogen atom is given energy (for example, by heating it or speeding it up) the electron is 'shaken' away and we are left with just a proton. The first isotope of hydrogen contains nothing but a single proton, with a single electron in 'orbit' around it. This is a point we will return to later, but for now we will concentrate on the simplest form of nuclear fusion, that of hydrogen. In fact, over a third of all the different kinds of atoms, when fused, release energy. Fusion can occur with many different kinds of atom. It's also possible to turn mass into energy by taking less massive atoms, such as hydrogen, and squeezing them together to form another type of, and heavier, atom. When this happens, a little of the mass of the original atom is turned into energy.

Einstein nuclear fission equation series#

We have seen in previous pages in this series that a heavy atom, such as uranium, can 'fall apart', that is, undergo fission.