Nuclear Energy Concepts

These flashcards cover key vocabulary terms related to nuclear energy, including definitions and explanations of important concepts introduced in the lecture notes.

Nuclear Fission

The splitting of a single heavy, unstable nucleus into two lighter nuclei.

Nuclear Fusion

The process of combining two light nuclei together to form one larger nucleus.

Binding Energy

The energy needed to overcome the strong nuclear force and separate a nucleus into its individual protons and neutrons.

Mass Defect (∆m)

The difference in mass between the total mass of individual protons and neutrons and the actual mass of the nucleus.

Electrostatic Force

The force that causes attraction between unlike charges and repulsion between like charges, influencing the behavior of protons and electrons.

Strong Nuclear Force

The force that binds protons and neutrons together in the nucleus, acting over very short distances.

Stable Nucleus

A nucleus in which the forces of repulsion and attraction are balanced, leading to its stability.

Isotope

Variants of a particular chemical element that have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons, resulting in varying binding energies.

Electron Volt (eV)

A unit of energy typically used for measuring energy at the level of subatomic particles, where 1 eV equals 1.6 x 10^-19 Joules.

E=mc²

Einstein's equation that describes the equivalence of mass (m) and energy (E), where c is the speed of light in a vacuum.