Advice on radioactivity

Well, I hope that this blog as been a good source of information to you and this is the last post, on advice on radioactivity. So, in the event that Singapore has high levels of radioactivity, what do you do?

Whatever the form of radiation, these are the three things you have to remember. They are time, distance and protection
Time-The less time you spend in proximity to a source, the less you are exposed to the radiation, which makes you less vulnerable.
Distance-The greater the distance between an individual and a source, the less that person is exposed to the radiation.
Protection-The more protection between an individual and a source, the less that person is exposed to the radiation.

So, stay away from the radiation zone as far as possible and if you have to go near it, stay for a short period of time as the exposure will be very small, and our bodies can usually repair the damage. Also, protect yourself from radiation, wear gas masks or something form of protection.

I hope you enjoyed this blog. Thanks!

Half Life and how Japan dealt with it

What is half life?
The half-life of a radioactive element is the amount of time it takes for one half of the atoms of that substance to disintegrate into another nuclear form. These can range from mere fractions of a second, to many billions of years. Simply, half life is the process whereby the radioactive elements slowly "enters" our body and harms us, killing us slowly.

These are some elements
Ba-139 - 82.7 minutes
Br-82 - 35.30 hours
C-14 - 5730 years
Cr-51 - 27.704 days
I-125 - 60.14 days

So, despite knowing that it is harmful, Japan is still pumping water into the ocean and saying that the iodine in the ocean will "disappear"?

I feel that Japan should not do this as pumping the contaminated water into the ocean will not make the iodine go away. In fact, its just worsening the situation as the iodine in the ocean will travel to different parts of the world, and the whole whole will be affected as the iodine is being transmitted.

Citation/Bibliography
http://www.iem-inc.com/toolhalf.html

How is radiation harmful to our bodies?

Radiation of any type can cause skin cancer etc and it speeds up the growth rate of cells in our body and may cause burns in high amounts of doses. The ever-so-common sunburn is actually a radiation burn because the sun gives off radiation. This is also why people who stay out in the sun without proper protection from it are more likely to get skin cancer. This is because skin cancer is the rapid and uncontrolled growth of cells.

Also, the risk of developing cancer and hereditary defects from exposure to ionising radiation, which increases slightly for young people. Exposing oneself to radiation can harm your body in many ways to will eventually lead to death.

Nuclear radiation can be both extremely beneficial and extremely dangerous. It just depends on how you use it. X-ray machines, some types of sterilization equipment and nuclear power plants all use nuclear radiation but many substance, when exposed to our body, can harm us fatally. Also, radiation is transmitted through the wind and the radiation from Japan can reach Singapore because of the wind travelling in that direction.

Citation/Bibliography
http://www.hse.gov.uk/youngpeople/risks/radiation.htm
http://www.howstuffworks.com/nuclear.htm

Advantages and disadvantages of a nuclear plant

After the nuclear leakage in Japan, many people all around the world are questioning if the building of the nuclear plants are really worth the trouble. It can be so destructive and but it provides us with resources and actually protects the environment.

So, I will be talking about the advantages and disadvantages of having a nuclear plant in Singapore(or any other country.

Basically, a nuclear plant uses Uranium as its main source of power.

Advantages
-Nuclear plant's power generation emits relatively low amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2), thus it helps protect the environment as CO2 in great quantities is harmful to the Earth.
-The emissions of green house gases and therefore the contribution of nuclear power plants to global warming is therefore relatively little.
-This technology is readily available, it does not have to be developed first.
-It is possible to generate a high amount of electrical energy in one single plant.
-It gives the country a different power resource to turn to and it reduces the demand for resources and helps the environment.
-A truckload of Uranium is equivalent in energy to 10,000+ truckloads of coal. (Assuming the Uranium is fully utilized)



Disadvantages
-The problem of radioactive waste is still an unsolved one. The waste from nuclear energy is extremely dangerous and it has to be carefully looked after for several thousand years (10'000 years according to United States Environmental Protection Agency standards).
-High risks: Despite a generally high security standard, accidents can still happen. It is technically impossible to build a plant with 100% security. A small probability of failure will always last. The consequences of an accident would be absolutely devastating both for human being as for the nature (see here , here or here ). The more nuclear power plants (and nuclear waste storage shelters) are built, the higher is the probability of a disastrous failure somewhere in the world.
-Nuclear power plants as well as nuclear waste could be preferred targets for terrorist attacks. No atomic energy plant in the world could withstand an attack similar to 9/11 in Yew York. Such a terrorist act would have catastrophic effects for the whole world.
-During the operation of nuclear power plants, radioactive waste is produced, which in turn can be used for the production of nuclear weapons. In addition, the same know-how used to design nuclear power plants can to a certain extent be used to build nuclear weapons (nuclear proliferation).
-The energy source for nuclear energy is Uranium. Uranium is a scarce resource, its supply is estimated to last only for the next 30 to 60 years depending on the actual demand.
-The time frame needed for formalities, planning and building of a new nuclear power generation plant is in the range of 20 to 30 years in the western democracies. In other words: It is an illusion to build new nuclear power plants in a short time.
-It takes up a lot of space and it is very dangerous for workers and residents to live near a nuclear plant as it can harm their bodies.


Thus, the debate is still ongoing, as many people feel that the nuclear plant is effective but others think that it is a risk one should not take.

Citation/Bibliography
http://timeforchange.org/pros-and-cons-of-nuclear-power-and-sustainability
(some stuff copied from there)

Radioactivity

As I mentioned in my last blog post, I will be talking about the nuclear leak incident that recently happened in Japan. But first, we need to understand what is radioactivity.

Radioactivity is the emission of energetic particles or waves from atoms. Radiation happens when unstable nuclei transform to some other nucleus by emitting radiation. In other words, radioactivity causes radiation. However, induced radiation often occurs when electrons which have been excited lose energy in the form of X-rays or microwaves, such as in dentist offices, microwave ovens, and radar. As this is applicable to nuclear energy, many substances created during the operation of a nuclear reactor are unstable. As they decay over varying lengths of time, they emit energetic particles or waves. This is known as radioactive decay, when an atomic nucleus of an unstable atom loses energy by emitting ionizing particles.

Thus, I can conclude that radioactivity is a property of some unstable nuclei whereby they break up spontaneously into nuclei of other elements and emit radiation, a process known as radioactivity decay.

There are three types of radiation emitted by radioactive elements-streams of alpha particles ( alpha rays), streams of beta particles ( beta rays) and gamma rays..

Alpha particles-Positively-charged particles ejected from some radioactive nuclei. They are relatively heavy ( two protons and neutrons), move relatively slowly and have a low penetrating power.

Beta particles-Particles ejected from some radioactive nuclei at about the speed of light, There are two types-electrons and positrons, which have the same mass as electrons, but a positive charge.

Gamma rays-Invisible electromagnetic waves. They have the highest penetrating power, and are generally though not always emitted from a radioactive nucleus after an alpha or beta particle.

After reading this, I hope you understand on radioactivity! Now on to the main topic, Japan's nuclear incident.

Citation/Bibliography
http://www.whatisnuclear.com/articles/radioactivity.html
The Usborne Illustrated Dictionary of Science

Nuclear fission!

I will be explaining to you what is nuclear fission, which is a longer and more detailed subject so I hope it is easy to understand!

What is nuclear fission?

Both nuclear fission and fusion yield energy, however, they are two different methods of yielding energy. As i have said just now in my post on nuclear fission, nuclear fission is combine two nuclei to form a single, heaver nuclei. However, nuclear fission is splitting two smaller atoms that collide and combine to make a new atom. During nuclear fusion some amount of mass becomes energy just like the formula, E = m c². In other words, nuclear reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into smaller parts which becomes lighter nuclei. While nuclear fusion does not occur on Earth, nuclear fission happens naturally everyday. One example of nuclear fusion is the fission bomb like the atomic bombs dropped in Japan during the world war II. Also, Uranium, constantly undergoes spontaneous fission very slowly. This is why the element emits radiation, making it a natural choice for the induced fission that nuclear power plants require. Thus, nuclear fission is very important in nuclear plants, providing the energy the nuclear plants need to generate power. This shows that nuclear fission is used in many ways.

I hope you find this useful :D

Citation/Bibliography
http://science.howstuffworks.com/nuclear-power1.htm

Nuclear fusion

This is blog post will explain to you what is nuclear fusion and I hope you like it(:

Q1) What is nuclear fusion?

Ans: Nuclear fusion is the process by which two or more atomic nuclei join together, or "fuse", to form a single heavier nucleus.

This means that two atomic nuclei combine together to form a single nucleus. Also, large amounts of energy are released or absorbed when this process takes place. Thus, nuclear fusion yields a lot of energy and is a very dangerous process. Nuclear fusion takes place for the fueling of stars. Nuclear fusion "powers" the sun, yielding so much energy to make the sun shine. So far, there is no one who is able to create, use, or even control nuclear fusion on Earth. Although fusion bombs (H-bombs) use fusion, which is the bringing of two lighter atoms together to form one heavier one. It cannot be considered controlled because one cannot turn them off once they have started. Thus, nuclear fusion is very dangerous.

Biibliography
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/nucene/fusion.html

A brief introduction on this blog

Hi, my name is Sze Hian and I am doing a Science ACE project on radioactivity. I will be covering the topics of nuclear fusion, nuclear fission, radioactivity. I will also talk about the advantages and disadvantages of building a nuclear plant in Singapore, how radiation is transmitted and why is it harmful to our bodies. I will also advise you about radioactivity and talk about the nuclear leak in Japan.

Thanks!