History of Chemisty: Nuclear Power

Nuclear power is a very broad field that is compromised by many aspects of science including physics and chemistry. It was discovered in the early 1900s. It is a power source widely used by the United States due to the shear amount of energy that can be created from just two atoms. Nuclear fission, the most widely used form of nuclear power, creates incredible amounts energy incredibly efficiently and due to this it is actually really popular. Nuclear power is hailed to be eco-friendly but it is argued that the radioactive wastes and the constant potential for something to go wrong is too great a risk to the environment and people.

1. A Not So Brief History

In 1789 German chemist Martin Klaproth discovered uranium, naming after Uranus. It was not until the late 1800s that radiation was discovered. It was around this time that scientists found that certain elements gave off alpha, beta, and gamma radiation (“Outline History of Nuclear Energy”). Pierre and Marie Curie coined the term radioactivity in 1896 to name the phenomenon of an element emitting alpha, beta, and/or gamma waves. In 1911 naturally radioactive elements were found to have many isotopes with the same chemistry. James Chadwick discovered the neutron in 1932, the same year that Cockcroft and Walton discovered that bombarding atoms with accelerated protons caused nuclear transformations in the atoms. Two years later Irene Curie and Frederic Joliot found that these nuclear transformations created artificial isotopes. Enrico Fermi experimented with bombarding the atoms with neutrons and, in 1935, discovered that this created even more artificial isotopes which lead to the creation of heavier and lighter elements. Otto Hans and Fritz Strassman discovered in 1938 that some...

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... into more. It is amazingly efficient in its production of energy. The incidents involving meltdowns have been few and far in between with a total of three occurring since the introduction of nuclear fission as a viable form for the production of electricity. All the byproducts from the production of the electricity are environmentally friendly with the exception of the depleted uranium. Using it would actually save the government and the average citizen an incredible amount of money. The dangers are few and far in between with many fail safes and precautions being implemented at the nuclear power plants. Nuclear power has the potential to completely replace the use of fossil fuel for the generation of electricity in the future. Overall nuclear power is a very useful and viable form of electricity production that should really be researched and invested into more.