[[User:Peterw|Peterw]] 08:20, 11 January 2013 (EST)
[[User:Peterw|Peterw]] 08:20, 11 January 2013 (EST)
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== Source of heat in a nuclear power station ==
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Andy, I explained this to the kids yeterday and it was an eye-opener for them. The teacher hadn't mentioned that E=mc<sup>2</sup> was only a theory and might not be happenning (well,what would you expect?). Anyway, they did ask me a good question that I couldn't answer. Where does the heat come from in a nuclear power station? They're only 12 so I just need something simple.
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It looks to me like Uranium is reacting and turning into other things. Is this just a normal chemical reaction and the heat comes from the chemical changes just like, say, gunpowder? Of course they're being told that the heat comes from a loss of mass, and is thousands of times more than a chemical reaction would produce, so I want to make sure I'm on solid ground saying that it isn't. I did a search but couldn't find references to where the heat comes from other than mass being converted into energy and something called Free Energy which I don't understand.
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[[User:Peterw|Peterw]] 08:21, 11 January 2013 (EST)