Thursday, March 24, 2011

Confused about nuclear fission?

Now why didn't we do science experiments like this when I was at school? Here is a graphic illustration of a nuclear fission reaction done with nothing more complicated than mouse traps and ping pong balls.



If you're wondering why the fuel rods in the Japanese reactors continue to generate heat take a look at this and image it happening on a molecular scale i.e. trillions of times more ping pong balls and each time a ball bounces a small amount of heat is released.

2 comments:

Chairman Bill said...

I challenge them to show nuclear fusion this way.

Steve Borthwick said...

CB, true, although you have me thinking about people throwing jelly at each other now..