Chemical reactions

To understand nuclear reactions you must first understand _________

reactions. The diagram below is a representation of the chemical reaction that
occurs when _________ (natural gas) burns in air. Methane molecules (CH4)
react with oxygen molecules (O2) from the air to form _________ _________
(CO2) and water molecules (H2O). Count the number of carbon, hydrogen
and oxygen atoms before and after the reaction. What do you notice?
Conservation of mass
All the atoms present _________ the chemical reaction are still there
_________ the reaction. No atoms are _________ and no new ones are
_________. In other words, the atoms are _________. The molecules break
apart and rearrange themselves to form new molecules, but they are all still
there. The oxygen atoms form chemical bonds with carbon and hydrogen
atoms by sharing their electrons, but the _________ of the atoms are not
affected. Two _________ substances (carbon dioxide and water) are formed,
but _________ new elements—that is, _________ _________ _________.
Scientists have found this is true for all chemical reactions, so they call it the
law of _________ of _________. For example, when paper burns, no atoms
are lost. Some of the atoms that were in the paper are in the ashes that are
left. The rest are in the smoke and invisible gases released into the air.

Nuclear reactions
In this section you will learn about _________ _________. For example, an
atom of plutonium-238 has 94 _________ in its nucleus and 144 _________,
giving it a _________ number of 238. Plutonium-238 is a synthetic element
which is _________, because its nucleus is very unstable. As a result, two of
the protons and two of the neutrons break off to form a totally different
atom—helium, which has 2 protons and 2 neutrons in its nucleus. What
remains is no longer plutonium-238, because it has only 92 protons. It is the
element _________. This nuclear reaction can be represented as follows:

The top numbers show the total number of _________ and _________ in the
nuclei. The bottom numbers show the number of _________, which
determine which element it is. You will notice that the numbers of neutrons
and protons (and electrons) are the same on both sides of the equation.
However the _________ mass of the two atoms on the right is very slightly
_________ than the mass of the original plutonium atom—so _________ has
been lost. This _________ happens in a chemical reaction. It only occurs in
nuclear reactions where the nuclei are involved in the reaction. Scientists
have found that the mass _________ in a _________ reaction is converted
directly into energy, according to Albert Einstein’s famous equation E = mc2.
In this equation c is the _________ of light— (insert this number here)—so a
tiny loss of mass in a nuclear reaction produces a huge amount of energy. For
example, a loss of 1 gram produces 90 million _________ — enough energy
to meet the needs of a city about the size of Cairns for a day!

Chain reactions
In a chemical reaction atoms are simply _________. The atoms combine to
form molecules or the molecules break up into atoms, but one atom can’t be
changed into a different one. This would mean changing the nucleus of the
atom. However, all this changed in 1919. Ernest Rutherford fired nuclei of
helium atoms at nitrogen atoms and occasionally oxygen atoms were
produced. This was a _________ reaction because it involved changes to the
_________ of the atoms. The nucleus of the nitrogen atom had gained a
proton (and a neutron) to become an oxygen atom. This discovery caused
much excitement among scientists. It seemed that the dream of the ancient
chemists of converting common metals into gold might come true.
When _________ were discovered in 1932, scientists used them to bombard
other atoms in the hope of causing more nuclear reactions. At the time,
uranium was the largest atom known, and scientists were trying to make
larger atoms by bombarding it with neutrons. Eventually they were successful
and made completely new elements such as _________ and _________.
However, they also discovered that the nuclei of some isotopes could be split
into two smaller nuclei. This process was called _________ _________.
Fission simply means _________ into parts.
When a neutron collides with a uranium-235 atom, the uranium atom
becomes extremely _________. It quickly splits into two smaller atoms and
three or four neutrons, and releases a huge amount of energy.
The neutrons released can bombard other uranium nuclei, which in turn
produce more neutrons. These can bombard even more nuclei, and so on.
This is called a _________ _________. Huge quantities of energy can be
released in a fraction of a second. If the chain reaction is not controlled there
is a nuclear explosion. If the chain reaction is controlled you can generate
electricity in a nuclear power station.

Nuclear fusion
There is a second type of nuclear reaction called _________ _________,
which is the reaction that powers the sun and other stars. It occurs when two
nuclei of deuterium or tritium (isotopes of hydrogen) are brought together or
_________. The process releases _________ amounts of energy, much
_________ than nuclear fission does.
However fusion needs enormous temperatures to get it going—around
100 000 000°C. At this temperature matter is not a solid, a liquid or a gas. It
is in a fourth state of matter called _________ —an ionised gas consisting of
fast-moving electrons and positive ions. The major problem is what sort of
container to put the plasma in, since no material known can stand these
temperatures. So scientists have been experimenting with ‘magnetic bottles’,
in which the plasma is contained inside invisible magnetic fields.
So far, scientists have only been able to produce _________ for a few
seconds. Much more research and development will be necessary before
fusion power stations are possible. The promising thing about nuclear fusion
is that it produces less radioactive waste than nuclear fission. Also, there is an
unlimited supply of the fuel needed since deuterium (heavy hydrogen) can be
extracted from seawater.
1 How are nuclear reactions different from chemical reactions? 


2 Explain in your own words the law of conservation of matter. 


3 What is the difference between fission and fusion? Which produces more energy? 


4 Which subatomic particles produced during nuclear fission are capable of causing a
chain reaction? 


5 What is used for fuel in a nuclear reactor? 


Read “Scientists at work: Lise Meitner (1878-1968)

9 Why did Lise Meitner have to flee from Germany in 1938? 


10 Why do you think Meitner wasn’t awarded the Nobel Prize with Otto Hahn?