Click2History - Einstein's Letter, NUCLEAR ENERGY - SIMPLY SPEAKING, Chapter 3

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>EINSTEIN’S LETTER</p> <p><font size=4>CHAPTER 3 - NUCLEAR ENERGY - SIMPLY SPEAKING</font></p> </font> </div> <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">Splitting atoms - or nuclear fission - produces energy (in the form of heat) called nuclear energy. The key to controlling the splitting of atoms, thereby managing the power of nuclear energy, lies in knowing how, and when, to <i>stop</i> the <a href="http://www.atomicarchive.com/Fission/Fission2.shtml" target="_blank"><b>chain reaction</b></a>. (A <i>controlled</i> chain reaction produces energy; an <i>uncontrolled</i> chain reaction produces a nuclear explosion.) <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/29/13/29-1232a.gif" target="_blank"><b>Enrico Fermi</b></a>, while <a href="http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/spcl/chain.html#a" target="_blank"><b>working at</b></a> the University of Chicago, <a href="http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1938/fermi-bio.html" target="_blank"><b>discovered</b></a> how to control a nuclear <a href="http://library.thinkquest.org/17940/texts/java/Reaction.html" target="_blank"><b>chain reaction</b></a>. His <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/29/13/29-1245a.gif" target="_blank"><b>nuclear reactor</b></a> was the first in the world.</p> <p>Today, <a href="http://www.nei.org/scienceclub/nuclearworld/nw_hownppworks.html" target="_blank"><b>power plants</b></a> in various countries use <a href="http://www.nei.org/scienceclub/nuclearworld/nw_safeplants.html" target="_blank"><b>nuclear reactors</b></a> (instead of <a target="_blank" href="images/burning.coal.jpg"><b>burning coal</b></a>) to <a target="_blank" href="images/create.jpg"><b>create</b></a> <a target="_blank" href="images/electricity.jpg"><b>electricity</b></a>. The same concept applies to nuclear-powered submarines where the energy produced from nuclear reactions (not fossil fuel) <a href="http://www.nei.org/scienceclub/nuclearworld/nw_nuclearenergy.html" target="_blank"><b>powers</b></a> the <a href="http://www.nei.org/scienceclub/nuclearworld/nw_technologies.html" target="_blank"><b>ship</b></a>. Always <a href="http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/nucene/nengcn.html#c1" target="_blank"><b>at issue</b></a>, among other things, is the safe <a href="http://www.nei.org/scienceclub/nuclearworld/nw_safedisposal.html" target="_blank"><b>disposal</b></a> of nuclear <a href="http://www.nei.org/scienceclub/nuclearworld/nw_waste.html" target="_blank"><b>waste</b></a>.</p> <p>In a sense, a nuclear submarine’s power plant (her <a href="http://americanhistory.si.edu/subs/operating/propulsion/reactor/images/reactor_diagram.gif" target="_blank"><b>nuclear reactor</b></a>) is nothing more than a large boiler which <a href="http://americanhistory.si.edu/subs/operating/propulsion/reactor/index.html" target="_blank"><b>produces</b></a> steam. That steam runs the turbines (which <a href="http://americanhistory.si.edu/subs/operating/propulsion/propulsion/index.html" target="_blank"><b>propel</b></a> the ship through the water) and the generators (which <a href="http://americanhistory.si.edu/subs/operating/propulsion/auxiliary/index.html" target="_blank"><b>provide</b></a> the ship’s electricity). The major difference between steam that is produced by a coal-fired boiler, for example, and steam that is generated by <a href="http://www.world-nuclear.org/education/nfc.htm" target="_blank"><b>nuclear power</b></a> is what happens <a href="http://www.uic.com.au/uicphys.htm" target="_blank"><b>inside</b></a> the <a href="http://www.kernenergie.net/datf/en/interactive/reactor.php" target="_blank"><b>nuclear reactor</b></a>.</p> <p>In 1939, when Einstein sent his letter to President Roosevelt, scientists were still learning these things about nuclear energy. No one had yet built nuclear power plants, atomic bombs or nuclear-powered submarines. How did the President react to Einstein’s concerns? Initially preoccupied with Hitler’s invasion of Poland, which started World War II, <a target="_blank" href="images/FDR.jpg"><b>FDR</b></a> was proceeding <a href="http://www.mbe.doe.gov/me70/manhattan/uranium_research.htm" target="_blank"><b>cautiously</b></a>. By fall, he asked for advice from the newly formed "Advisory Committee on Uranium" which </a> <a href="http://www1.umn.edu/ships/modules/uranium.htm" target="_blank"><b>first met</b></a> on October 21, 1939.</p> <p>The <a href="http://www.mbe.doe.gov/me70/manhattan/piles_plutonium.htm" target="_blank"><b>advice</b></a> he received ultimately led to the "Manhattan Project" and the world’s first atomic bombs.</p> </div> <p align="center"><font face="arial, helvetica" size="2"><a href="einsteins_letter_ch2.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="einsteins_letter_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="einsteins_letter_ch4.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </font> </font> </td> </tr> </table> </center> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </body>