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Write An Essay On Uranium Research Paper

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What is Uranium? Uranium is element atomic number 92 of the periodic table with the atomic symbol of U. It has 2 electrons in its outer shell. It is grey, silvery metal, with a density greater than that of lead, and nearly as dense as gold at 19.1g/cm3 (see figure 1). Uranium is common throughout the earth’s crust at a concentration of approximately 3 ppm, nearly as common as tin. Uranium will react when it comes into contact with acids and it will slowly oxidize in air, unless powdered; in which case it will combust instantly. Uranium’s special property is its weak radioactivity throughout all of its isotopes , each of which release alpha radiation . The half-life of uranium depends on the isotope being examined, which ranges through 6 …show more content…

The common uranium compound; uranium oxide, has a yellow colour. Uranium oxide was used in ceramic pottery in as early as 79CE by the romans to create a yellow colour in their creations. The uranium contained in these glasses would also cause the glass to fluoresce bright green under ultraviolet light. Uranium was used to colour glass up until modern times, due to health concerns of the radiation that uranium releases. However it is still possible to find antique uranium glass with a yellow tint such as in figure 2.
Despite its use through early history, science did not discover uranium until the German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth refined uranium while he was working in his experimental laboratory in Berlin in 1789. Klaproth first created a fine fellow powder which is thought to have been sodium diuranate by dissolving pitchblende in nitric acid then neutralizing it with sodium hydroxide. He believed the powder was an oxide of an undiscovered element, and heated it with charcoal to obtain the black powder of uranium oxide. This was as far as he got in his experiment. Klaproth named the newly discovered “element” after the planet Uranus which was discovered 8 years earlier. The true refining of uranium did not happen until 1841, when Eugène-Melchior Péligot created a pure sample of uranium metal by heating uranium tetrachloride with potassium

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Shelby Horito History 3879 Miller Winners in the Uranium Frenzy In history there have been many people to win the jackpot, whether it was from methodical planning or if they just so happened to be the lucky guy who put their last quarter in the machine. The uranium frenzy can be thought of in the same manner. In the 20th century everyone was packing their bags and moving to southeast Utah to stake their claim to try and play their lucky ticket. Some people were luckier than others such as Charlie Steen, others just seemed to have a knack for making money like Floyd Odlum and some just fell in between for instance Vernon Pick.

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Discovery of Uranus by William Herschel in 1781 When I say, William Herschel, you probably ask yourself, like the Hersey bar? No, not like the Hersey bar. William Herschel discovered Uranus, way back in the day. The important part about the discovery is how he discovered it, what motivated him, and why it’s significant.

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Einstein wrote a letter to the President Roosevelt in which he says that the United States should invest in developing atomic program. Later in 1941, that is what happened and the program for developing atomic bomb was code named the Manhattan Project. The first major discovery happened in December of 1942, when Enrico Fermi produced first controlled nuclear chain reaction at the University of Chicago with a few of his

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Einstein wrote a letter to the President Roosevelt in which he says that the United States should invest in developing atomic program. Later in 1941, that is what happened and the program for developing atomic bomb was code named the Manhattan Project. The first major discovery happened in December of 1942, when Enrico Fermi produced first controlled nuclear chain reaction at the University of Chicago with a few of his

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When used in reactors unsafely U 235 could cause an explosion similar to that of the Chernobyl incident, leading to a substantial effect on the environment. To counteract this risk, containment structures designed to contain U235 and other radioisotopes have been

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An initial uranium exploration cycle was military-driven, over 1945 to 1958. The second cycle was about 1974 to 1983, driven by civil nuclear power and in the context of a perception that uranium might be scarce. There was relatively little uranium exploration between

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The design for the uranium bomb was simply to use a gun assembly method. This meant that a piece of critical mass uranium was shot at a a cylinder to create a fission chain reaction. This was done to several pieces of uranium. The assembly its self was divided into two parts the target and the projectile. Oddly enough the projectile contained the uranium.

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By the end of 1943, significant discoveries were found and helped nuclear bomb projects in a few countries. The United States and the Soviet Union put much effort behind this idea, along with smaller programs in Nazi Germany and Britain. The second half of The First War of Physics spans from 1943 to 1949, with a short epilogue into the present day. In the earlier stages of the American project, it was already known that a purified form of uranium, with large amounts of the isotope U-235, would be needed for an atomic bomb.

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At the size of the isotopes needing to be separated there was only a handful of ways this could be achieved. All the scientist on the project came to the conclusion that enriched samples of uranium-235 were essential for further research. They concluded that this isotope could be used as a fuel source for an explosive device. In order to separate them they would need to be separated by a physical force, a chemical separation could not happen due to the fact that uranium-235 and uranium-238 are so

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Nuclear power stations produce a huge amount of energy for the quality of raw fuel used, but dangerous situations arise when this energy isn’t controlled properly. The containment of radioactive waste from spent fuel rods also poses a long-term problem. I will be telling you some facts about Nuclear power. Here are some pros and cons of this energy source. One of the substances they use to create the heat in a reactor is Uranium Fuel.

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Less than five years into their research, “the Curies announced that they had succeeded in preparing a decigram of pure radium chloride and had made an initial determination of radium's atomic weight. They had proven the chemical individuality of radium” (Marie Curie” Notable). The couple entrusted one another to complete their part of the workload on their own. Their speedy revelation of the elements came from their dedication to making a change. Though one may consider that

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Since the 1940s we have been using nuclear power as a source of energy. It is mainly used on power plants and consists of two types of generating in the nuclear energy process. Firstly there is nuclear fission, this consists of a neutron being fired at a high velocity and then colliding with uranium. This then causes the nucleus to split in half then creating a large amount of energy. Nuclear energy is surrounded by quite a few debates.

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The origins of the atomic bomb can be traced back to beginnings of modern physics. In 1898, french physicists Pierre and Marie Curie discovered a highly radioactive element they called radium in uranium ore—at that time it was referred to pitchblende, a term first used by German miners who were unaware of the ore's metal content. By 1903, the couple had won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their research in radiation phenomena. In 1902 Ernest Rutherford—who would later have an element named after him in the periodic table—came up with a theory that shook the early history of modern physics: he proposed that atoms could break down into new elements. This would only be the first step in research that would later culminate in the creation of the atomic bomb, a weapon that would irrevocably change world history forever.

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Nuclear Energy Nuclear energy is a strong force that holds together the nucleus in an atom. To release this energy in order to produce electricity, scientist use the processes called nuclear fusion and nuclear fission. Once the energy is released, it will change into radiation which is a form of energy. Before nuclear energy was generated, we use fossil fuel to produce electricity. However, fossil fuels such as coal and oil contributes detrimental air pollution.

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