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The
40's was the era where the first nuclear
bomb is being developed, and that's why
it's called the nuclear era. However,
nuclear energy has already researched
back since 1900. Nuclear era reached its greatest peak in the world
war, by showing its massive ability of
destroying things.
Nuclear
energy is a form of energy that’s
released by the splitting of atoms.
Since scientists have found a way to
make use of the energy, it has also been
used to generate electricity.
Nuclear
energy has been recognized as a clean
energy because it doesn’t release
pollutants such as CO2 to the atmosphere
after its reaction
that could damage our environment. It's
also known that nuclear energy
has reduced the amount of greenhouse gas
emission, reducing emissions of CO2 for
about 500 million metric tons of carbon.
Despite
the advantage of nuclear as a clean
energy, the big concern is the waste
resulted from nuclear reaction, which is
a form of pollution, called
radioactivity. Radioactivity is a form
of radiation (a form of energy that
travels through space). Some elements in this world are
naturally radioactive while some others
are made to be. Radioactivity is emitted
when a radioactive element become
unstable and begin to decay in the
attempt to regain their molecular
stability. When an element decays, it
emits energy and small particles. If
it’s still radioactive, it will repeat
the process, until it finally regains
its molecular stability and stop
decaying.
The time that it takes for half way of decaying
process is called half-life, and this differs
for each radioactive element. It possibly takes
up to 4.5 billion years (Uranium 238) and as
short as 8 days (Iodine 131). This process
constantly remains, not considering external
factors such as pressure or temperature. This
process is expressed in units called becquerels. One becquerel
is equal to one disintegration of nuclei per second.
There
are commonly three types of radiation, namely:
- Alpha
particles, can be blocked by a piece of
paper and human skin.
- Beta
particles can penetrate through skin, while
can be blocked by some pieces of glass and
metal.
- Gamma
rays can penetrate easily to human skin and
damage cells on its way through, reaching
far, and can only be blocked by a very
thick, strong, massive piece of concrete.
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