Heat and Energy — PHYSICS STD 9 — Question

When a heavy nucleus is bombarded with slow neutrons, it splits into two nearly equal light nuclei with a release of tremendous amount of energy. In this process of nuclear fission, the total sum of masses of products is less than the total sum of masses of reactants. This lost mass gets converted into energy. The energy so released is called nuclear energy.

Principle: The heat energy released due to the controlled chain reaction of nuclear fission of uranium-235 in a nuclear reactor is absorbed by the coolant which then passes through the coils of a heat exchanger containing water. The water in heat exchanger gets heated and converts into steam. The steam is used to rotate the turbine which in turn rotates the armature of a generator in a magnetic field and thus produces electricity.