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Curriculum Organizing Questions
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- Under what types of conditions would you expect to
find nuclear fission and fusion occurring?
- How are matter and energy related?
- How do fission and fusion compare?
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Elaboration
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The description does not need to be quantitative.
The basic ideas are outlined below. Conversions between mass
and energy require putting the laws of conservation of mass
and the law of conservation of energy together.
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Specific Ideas
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- Energy is released whenever the nuclei of very heavy
atoms, such as uranium or plutonium, split into
middleweight ones, or when very light nuclei, such as
those of hydrogen and helium, combine into heavier ones.
The energy released in each nuclear reaction is very much
greater than the energy given off in each chemical
reaction.Benchmarks 4E6.
- The special theory of relativity is best known for
stating that any form of energy has mass, and that matter
itself is a form of energy. The famous relativity
equation, E-mc^2, holds that the transformation of even a
tiny amount of matter will release an enormous amount of
other forms of energy, in that the c in the equation
stands for the immense speed of light.Benchmarks
10C3.
- The forces that hold the nucleus of an atom together
are much stronger than the electromagnetic force. That is
why such great amounts of energy are released from the
nuclear reactions in the sun and other stars.NSES
B1c.
- Fission is the splitting of a nucleus into smaller
pieces.NSES B1c.
- Fusion is the joining of two nuclei at high
temperature and pressure.NSES B1c.
- Star energy is produced through fusion.NSES B1c.
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Developmental & Instructional
Implications
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Again, the description does not need to be
quantitative.
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Examples
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