trillions of stars in the universe of many types. From red giants to white dwarfs, they range in size, temperature, and density. One particular type is a neutron star. They have many interesting properties, from extreme density, magnetism, and gravity, to scorching heat that makes our own sun seem like a warm, tropical beach. The environment on a neutron star is incomprehensibly brutal. Neutron stars are the leftovers of stars with a mass of four to eight times that of our own sun. A neutron star can be
Neutron Star Duality A neutron star, at first glance, may seem like the smallest stellar remnant of them all, but with deeper inspection you will be baffled to know that is it the most massive of all the stellar remnants. This neutron star and it’s many wonders, including contrasts, and levels of understanding is a great image for the cover to represent the paradox and counter intuitive nature of Sharon Olds poems in The Gold Cell; the poem “Summer Solstice” is a great representation of similarity
Dark Matter and Dark Energy Dark Matter and Dark Energy are important. They can help us know how the universe began. These two are the mysteries of the universe; they compose about 90% of the universe. They are mysteries because we believe that they exist but we can’t see them or detect them. People question whether they manifest to be the same thing. Astronomers know very little about their constitution so they cannot assume they are related. Dark Energy is a mysterious force that drives the
energy to exist. Once this fuel runs out, though, the quasar ceases to be and becomes a normal supermassive black hole. Pulsars, on the other hand, are the remnants of stars that were once ten times the size of our sun. When these stars come to the end of their life, they supernova and leave only a super dense mass called a neutron star or pulsar. These formations are called pulsars because they emit a radio signal and rotate in such a way that it looks as if they are pulsing. Now, it is on to greater
Stars are phenomenal glowing spheres that everyone has noticed in the night sky. Long ago they were poorly understood. Today, with the help from astronomers, physicists, and other space scientists, we have discovered a large amount of information about stars. These huge balls of flaming gas have many different ranges of characteristics. We can observe the many fascinating colors that may be displayed from stars. Some of them are not stars themselves, but the trillions of fragments left behind
When a star "dies" it can do many different things. It can form a neutron star, expand to a red giant and shrink into a white dwarf, or sometimes collapse upon itself to form a black hole. This is mostly dependent on the density of the star. When massive stars, those twenty times the mass of our Sun or more die, they must either exhaust all of their excess mass or implode upon themselves and form black holes. Gravity overwhelms even the nuclear forces. The gravitational force becomes so strong that
as a nuclear reaction in which atomic nuclei of low atomic number fuse to form a heavier nucleus with the release of energy. Nuclear fission takes place when a large, somewhat unstable isotope is bombarded by high-speed particles, usually neutrons. These neutrons are then sped up or accelerated and then slammed into the unstable isotope, causing it to fission, or break into smaller particles. An example of nuclear fission is when nuclear fission produces electricity inside nuclear reactors and is
charged protons, and electrically neutral neutrons. All atomic electrons bind to the nucleus through electromagnetic force. A ground of electrons bound together will form individual molecules. An atom with an equal number of protons and electrons will hold neutral. An ion has positive or negative charge, either through a lack of electrons or an electron excess. The number of protons determines the formation of chemical elements, while as the number of neutrons determines the element's isotope. Most
In the world that we live, Protons and neutrons make up a nucleus, which is the foundation of nuclear science. Fission and fusion involves the dispersal and combination of elemental nucleus and isotopes, and part of nuclear science is to understand the process behind this phenomenon. Nuclear fusion and nuclear fission are different types of reactions that release energy due to the presence of high-powered atomic bonds between particles found within a nucleus.This essay will compare and contrast Fusion
Sarah Lund Nuclear Reactions Nuclear Reactions is a process altering the energy, structure, or composition of atomic nuclei. In a reaction two nuclei or nuclear particles collide to produce a completely different product than the original nuclear particles. Although this is exceptionally rare occurrence a principal reaction includes 2 particles colliding. In most cases the particles will just collide and separate, this process is known as elastic collision, which is not a nuclear reaction. Confused
Looking up at the night sky you see stars lying on a never-ending dark blanket. It is within this “blanket”, called the interstellar medium, that new stars are formed. The interstellar medium consists of 99% gas and about 1% dust particles. Hydrogen is the predominant gas in both atomic and molecular forms. While being the place where stars are born, the interstellar medium also creates beautiful nebulae. A reflection nebula is created when light from a nearby star reflects from the dust particles in
by nucleus having less mass. However, nuclear fusion doesn’t take place in normal condition. The temperature requirement form nuclear fusion is around the order of 109 degree Celsius. Hence it doesn’t take place on earth. It mainly takes place on stars. Nuclear fusion reaction is an endothermic reaction. In this context we have also discussed about nuclear fusion being the main source of stellar energy. In biology, the term fusion means combining of two nuclei to form a bigger nucleus. Similarly
discovered, a group of German scientists created a process of separation, not a slow disintegration like radioactive decay, but a much more dramatic reaction. In 1938, Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann, working with Lise Meitner, bombarded uranium with neutrons, releasing energy and causing the uranium atoms to split into multiple parts, the nuclei themselves breaking down to create new nuclei with fewer protons, which were the nuclei of smaller atoms. Hahn, Strassmann, and Meitner had produced nuclear
ore contains approximately 99.3% uranium-238, a non-fissionable isotope of uranium, and only about 0.7% of U-235 required for fission. One hydrogen atom out of 6700 appears as deuterium, a naturally occurring isotope of hydrogen with an extra neutron, and can easily be separated from the rest. Uranium-235 is a non-renewable resource that will eventually run out, much like the fossil fuels. The abundance of deuterium and lithium provide a virtually unlimited supply of fuel for nuclear fusion
being split into two or more parts. This makes a light nuclei. The process of fission involves producing free neutrons and photons. This forms gamma rays. After the neutrons and photons are produce a very high level of energy will be released. Fusion is quite different then fission. However, it is also a big part of nuclear physics. Fusion is the process that makes power for the sun and stars. It is the reaction that involves two similar atoms combining to form a different atom.
atoms, since positive charges and negative charges attract each other together like a magnet. It is because of a fundamental force called strong nuclear force. The strong nuclear force acts like a bond of sorts, binding or keeping the protons and neutrons together into the nucleus, but the nuclear force doesn’t go past the nucleus. The strong nuclear force is the key part in human survival; if the strong nuclear force ever decided to disappear, life would never cease to exist. This glue, this force
black holes form from stars with a mass greater than 20 solar masses and can be a result of gravitational collapse. Gravitational collapse is a result of the star’s internal pressure not being able to resist the stars own gravity. When the star is exhausted of its nuclear fuel such that it cannot maintain a high enough temperature it will begin to collapse under its own weight (Seidel 2011). As the star collapses it causes a supernova which blasts the outer layers of the star into space while the
The symbol of technetium is Tc and the name of the element originates from the Greek word technetos which means artificial. It’s atomic number is 43 and it has 43 protons and electrons. The element has a total of 55 neutrons and has an atomic mass of 98 u. Technetium is in period 5 and group 7 of the periodic table. It has a melting point of 3,915 degrees Fahrenheit while it’s boiling point is about 4,000 degrees higher at 7,709 degrees Fahrenheit. Technetium is classified as a transition metal
the guidance of Dr. Mohammad Hannan. The project, an analysis of samples from a local canal via Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA), was a joint investigation between The University of Texas Pan American (UTPA) and The University of California Irvine (UCI). A
Niels Bohr was a Danish physicist who worked in the early to mid-twentieth century. His father was a well-known physiologist. Bohr’s mother came from a family that was well-known in the field of education. In the fall of 1911 Bohr stayed at Cambridge, where he made some money by following the experimental work in the Cavendish Laboratory under Sir J.J. Thomson's guidance. In the early 1900’s Niels Bohr was a valued physicist because he made initial contributions to understanding atomic structure