Nuclear weapons effect (Cause and effect)

Nuclear Weapon Effects

             A nuclear detonation creates a severe environment including blast, thermal pulse, neutrons, x- and gamma-rays, radiation, electromagnetic pulse (EMP), and ionization of the upper atmosphere. Depending upon the environment in which the nuclear de-vice is detonated, blast effects are manifested as ground shock, water shock, “blueout‘, cratering, and large amounts of dust and radioactive fallout. All pose problems for the survival of friendly systems and can lead to the destruction or neutralization of hostile assets.

The energy of a nuclear explosion is transferred to the surrounding medium in three distinct forms: blast; thermal radiation; and nuclear radiation. The distribution of energy among these three forms will depend on the yield of the weapon, the location of the burst, and the characteristics of the environment. For a low altitude atmospheric detonation of a moderate sized weapon in the kiloton range, the energy is distributed roughly as follows:

-50% as blast;

-35% as thermal radiation; made up of a wide range of the electromagnetic spectrum, including infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light and some soft x-ray emitted at the time of the explosion; and

-15% as nuclear radiation; including 5% as initial ionizing radiation consisting chiefly of neutrons and gamma rays emitted within the first minute after detonation, and 10% as residual nuclear radiation. Residual nuclear radiation is the hazard in fallout.

            Considerable variation from this distribution will occur with changes in yield or location of the detonation.

Because of the tremendous amounts of energy liberated per unit mass in a nuclear detonation, temperatures of several tens of million degrees centigrade develop in the immediate area of the detonation. This is in marked contrast to the few thousand degrees of a conventional explosion. At these very high temperatures the nonfissioned parts of the nuclear weapon are vaporized. The atoms do not release the energy as kinetic energy but release it in the form of large amounts of electromagnetic radiation. In an atmospheric detonation, this electromagnetic radiation, consisting chiefly of soft x-ray, is absorbed within a few meters of the point of detonation by the surrounding atmosphere, heating it to extremely high temperatures and forming a brilliantly hot sphere of air and gaseous weapon residues, the so-called fireball. Immediately upon formation, the fireball begins to grow rapidly and rise like a hot air balloon. Within a millisecond after detonation, the diameter of the fireball from a 1 megaton (Mt) air burst is 150 m. This increases to a maximum of 2200 m within 10 seconds, at which time the fireball is also rising at the rate of 100 m/sec. The initial rapid expansion of the fireball severely compresses the surrounding atmosphere, producing a powerful blast wave.

             As it expands toward its maximum diameter, the fireball cools, and after about a minute its temperature has decreased to such an extent that it no longer emits significant amounts of thermal radiation. The combination of the upward movement and the cooling of the fireball gives rise to the formation of the characteristic mushroom-shaped cloud. As the fireball cools, the vaporized materials in it condense to form a cloud of solid particles. Following an air burst, condensed droplets of water give it a typical white cloudlike appearance. In the case of a surface burst, this cloud will also contain large quantities of dirt and other debris which are vaporized when the fireball touches the earth's surface or are sucked up by the strong updrafts afterwards, giving the cloud a dirty brown appearance.          

             The dirt and debris become contaminated with the radioisotopes generated by the explosion or activated by neutron radiation and fall to earth as fallout.

The relative effects of blast, heat, and nuclear radiation will largely be determined by the altitude at which the weapon is detonated. Nuclear explosions are generally classified as air bursts, surface bursts, subsurface bursts, or high altitude bursts.

Instead making a graphic organizer to explain the C-E of the nuclear weapons, I´ve decided to put on the post an educational video that shows the effects of the nuclear weapons utilization:

Nuclear fission Process (Process)

Introduction to nuclear fission process

           The reactions in which composition of one or more nuclei changes to for new nuclei and a very large amount of energy is released are called nuclear reactions. The nuclear reactions are of two types: one is nuclear fission and the other is nuclear fusion. The discovery of nuclear fission is one of the most significant events in the history of science. In 1939, three German scientists, Lise Meinter, Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman caused fission of uranium nuclei by bombarding it with slow neutrons.

Nuclear Fission Process

          There are two types of forces which act on the particle inside a nucleus – electrostatic force and nuclear force. Electrostatic force is acting between two any charged particles. All nuclei contain positively charged protons and the neutral particles neutrons. Nuclear force is acting between the particles, which are inside the nucleus. The force acting between the protons – proton, proton – neutron and the neutron – neutron is called nuclear force. Nuclear force is very strong force and starts operating only when the two particles are very close to each other. Nuclear force of attraction decreases rapidly as the distance between the two particles increases.

Nuclear Fission Process : Conclusion

           In the nuclear fission reaction, new elements are formed due to the splitting of the nuclei. In the nuclear fission, the composition of nucleus change and it release a very large amount of energy. Nuclear fission is irreversible reactions. The change in the pressure and temperature, does not affect the rate of nuclear fission.

           Instead making a diagram explaining the steps of this process, I´ve decided to show a educational video where is explained by pictures and animation, the nuclear fission process:

PD: this is the link of the video source: www.FreeScienceLectures.com

Similarities and differences between electrons and protons (Comparison and Contrast)

             Every atom is made up of a proton, a neutron and electron. A neutron does not have a mass and is found in the nucleus together with the protons. Protons and electrons are dissimilar in many ways such as:

             Protons are found in the nucleus and electrons are found in an electron cloud around the nucleus, arranged in several orbitals.

             Protons are positively charged and electrons are negatively charged.

             Electrons have an almost negligible mass. That is why when atomic mass is calculated, it only takes into account the mass of the protons present in the atom.

The number of protons and the number of electrons in an atom are equal so that the net charge on the atom is zero (positive and negative balance each other out).




Instead making a graphic organizer on this post I´ve decided to show a video where is explained the similarities and differences between electrons and protons in a really easy way:

Classification of Matter! (Classification)

The Chemical Classification of Matter


            Many chemistry textbooks provide a diagram In their introductory sections showing how matter can be classified into mixtures and pure substances, and then to heterogeneous and homogeneous mixtures, elements and compounds:

               Matter, the stuff from which our physical world is formed, presents to us as various types of material. On a first analysis, the possible phases are:

• gaseous, such as air
• liquid, such as water
• solid, such as rock

                However, for classification purposes it is useful to divide materials into:

• mixtures: variable composition
• pure substances: stoichiometric composition

                  Physical techniques, such as: distillation, filtration, crush-&-sort, selective dissolution, chromatography, etc., can be used to separate the individual components of a mixture into chemically pure substances, and physical methods such as turbulent mixing can be used to blend pure substances together into mixtures.

What is an atom? (Definition and Description)

What is an atom?

             An atom a fundamental piece of matter. (Matter is anything that can be touched physically.) Everything in the universe (except energy) is made of matter, and, so, everything in the universe is made of atoms.


             An atom itself is made up of three tiny kinds of particles called subatomic particles: protons, neutrons, and electrons. The protons and the neutrons make up the center of the atom called the nucleus and the electrons fly around above the nucleus in a small cloud. The electrons carry a negative charge and the protons carry a positive charge. In a normal (neutral) atom the number of protons and the number of electrons are equal. Often, but not always, the number of neutrons is the same, too.

The negative electrons are attracted to the positive nucleus by the same electrical force which causes magnets to work. That's what keeps the atom together.


GLOSSARY


C


Calcium: Is an element of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements, it symbol is Ca and it has  2, 8, 8, 2 electrons per shell.


E

Electron: Subatomic particle of the atom, has negative electrical charge and it is outside of the atom, surrounding it.

M

Magnesium: Is an element of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements, it symbol is Mg and it has 2, 8, 2 electrons per shell.

N

Neutron: Subatomic particle of the atom, has neutral electrical charge and it is in the nucleus of the atom.


P


Proton:  Subatomic particle of the atom, has positive electrical charge and it is in the nucleus of the atom.


S


Subatomic: that forms part of the atom, for example: the electron is a SUBATOMIC particle, because it´s a part of the atom.

What is an Atom?

 An atom is a little (tiny sounds better) unity of materia that is composed by particles, those particles may be of three different kinds: the first of them is the electron,  they have negative electric charge; one atom has a group of electrons surrounding it´s nucleus, and this nucleus is composed by the other two kind of atom particles: neutrons and protons, neutrons have neutral electric charge, protons, on the other hand, have positive electrical charge.

welcome everyone!

Good evening bloggers! this is my first post on the blog, my name is Kelvin González and I´m studying  chemical engineering at Simón Bolívar University, wich is located in Caracas, Venezuela. This blog is made for my english reading class, my teacher is called Patricia Murillo (an excellent english teacher by the way) and the main issue of my blog is one of my biggest passions: Atoms, that´s why I´ve chosen this title for the blog, here I´m going to speak about them, how do they work? what is the importance of learning about them? and a lot of more questions that will be answered in due time, but for now, I have to say: Good Night!