star.gif (2664 bytes)A Down To Earth Supplement
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                                       July 1998
Gobar means animal dung in Hindi. All of rural India uses it in a variety of ways. Ways that exemplify sustainable existence. That's why we use it, too.

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Feb 2, 1976. Three nuclear scientists resigned today. All three worked at General Electric, a US-based power corporation. "We could no longer justify devoting our energies to the continuing development and expansion of nuclear fission power — a system we believe to be so dangerous that it now threatens the very existence of life on this planet", they said.

An easy guide to
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gt62_2.jpg (6714 bytes)Our world is nothing but atoms of elements, with light or heavy nuclei.

unstable
A lot of elements are unstable. Due to the way protons and neutrons are arranged in the nucleus of atoms of these elements.

radioactive
All unstable elements, light or heavy, are radioactive. Atoms of such elements give off bursts of energy, and try to change to another element that’s more stable.

fertile
Uranium-238, Thorium-232 and Plutonium-240, are also called fertile elements. It is easy to make them fissile.

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fissile
These are elements that can be easily used in nuclear reactions, because they are very unstable, and can easily be made to produce nuclear energy. Uranium-235, Plutonium-239 are fissile elements. Hence they are used in atomic power stations and in bombs.

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The process in which a neutron hits a heavy nucleus, and splits it into two. Energy is released. Happens naturally. And in a lab., reactor, or bomb.

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The process in which two light nuclei ‘fuse’ or join together, and energy is released. The sun’s heat is the energy it releases because of the fusion of light elements Deuterium and Tritium that’s always taking place in it. Good for a bomb, too.

chain reaction
When a heavy nucleus splits, it releases neutrons. These neutrons hit other atoms of the element, which also split. And so on. In an atomic power reactor, nuclear chain reaction is controlled. In a bomb, it is not. boom1.jpg (4029 bytes)

binding energy
In an atom, the electron is controlled by three forces. The force of gravity, electromagnetic force, and the ability to interact. These forces are also there in the nucleus, and one more called the ‘strong force’. This force keeps the nucleus from flying apart. It is like a rope, and the strength of the rope is the binding energy of a nucleus. Atoms with more binding energy are stable. Those with less are unstable. Nuclear binding energies are 1,000,000 times stronger than the ability of electrons to interact . This means that the amount of energy released when the nucleus of an atom changes (or fuses or is made to fission) is much, much more than the chemical energy released when atoms combine by sharing electrons. Electrons give you electricity. From nuclear energy, you can also get a bomb.

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Science loves nuke physics. Industry loves nuke energy.
Military loves nuke bomb.

Do people have to?