11.3. Nuclear Energy http://www.ck12.org
FIGURE 11.11
This pellet of uranium-235 can release a
huge amount of energy if it undergoes
nuclear fission.FIGURE 11.12
The fissioning of a nucleus of uranium-235 begins when it captures a neutron.leads to others, which lead to others, and so on. A nuclear chain reaction is similar to a pile of wood burning. If you
start one piece of wood burning, enough heat is produced by the burning wood to start the rest of the pile burning
without any further help from you. You can see another example of a chain reaction at this URL: http://www.youtu
be.com/watch?v=0v8i4v1mieU (2:54).