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What
is an atom bomb? Apart from being used as a
comment by road-Romeos, this is a term
colloquially used for nuclear fission weapons.
Fusion (used in Hydrogen Bomb) actually, is as
atomic as fission. Better use 'nukes' next time.
Fission is a nuclear reaction in which the
nucleus of an atom splits, the way Vaiko's MDMK
split out of DMK-nucleus. Fusion is the process
of two nuclei fusing together. Fusion is usually
initiated by fission. For instance, LJP fission
was followed by a fusion with JD (U). Fusion has
some advantages over fission; the light nuclei
are in abundance and the end products of fusion
are not radioactive. Such a coalition in theory
forms stable nuclei (government). But, there is
one major disadvantage: the mutual repulsion of
the positively charged protons becomes a
bottleneck in combining the light nuclei.
Imagine two power-hungry parties in a coalition.
This is why the nuclear power plants are running
on fission instead.
Nuclear fission of heavy elements (big national
parties) produces energy because the binding
energy of intermediate-mass nuclei (smaller
fractions) is greater than the binding energy of
very heavy nuclei, so that energy is released
when heavy nuclei are broken apart. The total
mass of the fission products is less than the
mass of the original nucleus. The difference is
released as energy, the Einstein's theory of
E=mc˛. And you thought that invisible part of
the equation was bribe? You must be watching too
much of news channels these days.
An atom bomb is a result of an uncontrolled
nuclear chain reaction, while controlled chain
reaction is used to produce nuclear energy. Does
the 'uncontrolled' part remind you of waiting in
a queue outside a public restroom? Nuclear
fission reactors may produce power, sources for
research, or nuclear fuel (breeder reactors). In
principle, the same reactor can be used for all
of these purposes, but in practice they are
built with only one of these goals. And so,
civilian and military nuclear facilities can be
identified and separated for IAEA inspection.
Hmm, did you say 'in practice'?
India has world's highest reserves of Thorium,
enough to fuel nuclear projects for next 2500
years. Only India has the technology to build a
heavy water reactor that, after its initial fuel
charge of enriched uranium, plutonium or MOX,
requires only thorium as input to its fuel
cycle. The less encouraging fact is that such a
reactor is expensive compared to a Fast Breeder
reactor. This is why our PM breaks the protocol
to welcome Mr. Bush. Plutonium economy, the
economist PM knows it very well. Fast Breeder
reactors, unlike PatnaDaily, need no moderator.
Why is this hullabaloo in US against this
nuclear deal? Well, some say India can use the
imported nuclear fuel to run its civilian energy
program while diverting its own nuclear fuel to
weapons production. I won't express my personal
opinion on this issue here, but there is much
more hidden behind the deal than what looks to
our eyes.
While browsing through Wikipidea (Were you
wondering from where I learned nuclear
science?), I came across these two words,
Protoscience and Pseudoscience. Protoscience is
a hypothesis which is not yet proven
scientifically, but is reasonably consistent
with science. Pseudoscience is an unscientific
practice/methodology. So, is Yoga a protoscience
or a pseudoscience? I'll leave it for you to
find that out.
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