How does nuclear energy work?

see full answer

Your Exam Success, Personally Taken Care Of

1:1 expert mentors customize learning to your strength and weaknesses – so you score higher in school , IIT JEE and NEET entrance exams.

An Intiative by Sri Chaitanya

With the help of nuclear reactor

Nuclear power plants

Both 1 and 2

None of these

answer is A.

(Unlock A.I Detailed Solution for FREE)

Best Courses for You

JEE

NEET

Foundation JEE

Foundation NEET

CBSE

Detailed Solution

Concept: Electricity is produced using nuclear energy at nuclear power plants. The "heart" of a nuclear power plant are the nuclear reactors. Nuclear power facilities cannot operate without nuclear reactors. Utilising fission, a physical process, nuclear power plants use regulated nuclear chain reactions to generate heat. Nuclear reactor heat is used to create steam, which spins a turbine to provide power.
When a target nucleus (A) and a bombarding particle (a) collide in a nuclear reaction, another nucleus (B) and an elementary particle (b) , or gamma ray, are created. This response can be modelled as:

A + a \to B + b + Q

The energy received or released during the nuclear reaction is represented by the factor Q. This is also known as nuclear reaction energy or Q-value. The difference between the total mass of the responding particles and the total rest mass of the product particles is the nuclear reaction energy.
If the starting rest mass is higher than the final rest mass, the reaction's Q-value will be positive. Exothermic reaction is the name given to this type of nuclear reaction. Nuclear energy is the energy released during the reaction. The kinetic energy of the product particles is how this energy manifests.
The reaction's Q-value is negative if beginning rest mass is lower than final rest mass. An endothermic reaction is the name given to such a nuclear process.
Einstein's mass-energy relation can be used to calculate the energy emitted or absorbed in a nuclear process.

E = Δm c^{2}

Nuclear energy is the energy generated during a nuclear reaction. In nuclear reactors that generate electricity, nuclear energy is crucial. A nuclear reactor is a machine that starts, maintains, and regulates a nuclear chain reaction. A nuclear reactor produces energy continuously and operates on the theory of a regulated chain reaction.
Nuclear fission energy is generated by a regulated chain reaction. This energy then converts water into steam, which creates a lot of pressure. As a result of this pressure, a generator's shaft rotates, which finally turns a generator that generates electricity. Therefore, the energy generated by nuclear power plants is put to a variety of good use.
Hence, option 1 is the correct answer.

Watch 3-min video & get full concept clarity