G8-The Nuclear Navy (Approaching) – 02
The picture below shows the Aircraft Carrier Harry S. Truman. It is stationed in the Persian Gulf for the next few months. The current mission is to provide air support to troops stationed in the Middle East. There is scuttlebutt amongst the crew. Will the Truman need to stay on station for a longer time? This is no problem for the Truman. It can stay active for at least ten years without being refueled. How is this possible? Welcome to the Nuclear Navy.
An aircraft carrier is like a city at sea. It carries several thousand crew members. Food for the crew, fuel and ordinance for the planes is resupplied periodically. This is done by using smaller resupply ships and planes. The ship itself does not need such a lifeline. This is thanks to its two onboard nuclear reactors. These reactors provide the ship with propulsion and electricity. The reactors even help to provide the ship with its freshwater. It is amazing to think the power inside of atoms. Something too small to be seen can produce enough power to run an aircraft carrier.


In the early part of the twentieth century, there was much interest in the atom. Scientists knew that the nucleus of an atom held a huge amount of energy. At the time, it was thought there was no way to gain access to this energy. In the 1930s, scientists had been studying many radioactive elements. During these investigations, scientists gained a better understanding of why these elements were radioactive. It all had to do with a newly discovered particle, the neutron.
The nucleus of an atom is made up of protons and neutrons. Protons have a positive electric charge. Neutrons have no electric charge. Atoms of an element often have an equal number of neutrons as protons. What is now known is the number of protons that gives atoms their unique properties. An electron is another particle of an atom that orbits the nucleus. Electrons have a negative electric charge. Atoms typically have the same number of electrons as protons. As a result, the negative and positive charges cancel each other out. This makes most atoms electrically neutral.
Radioactive elements contain more neutrons than protons. This difference causes atoms to be unstable. This lack of balance is what causes them to be radioactive. This means they naturally decay. These radioactive isotopes decay by releasing an alpha particle. An alpha particle is identical to Helium nuclei (two protons and two neutrons). This process changes the composition of the atom. For example, if an isotope releases an alpha particle, it loses two protons (and two neutrons), which changes its atomic number. The atomic number is simply the number of protons in the atom. The number of protons in an atom is what makes it different from atoms of other elements. What is more important is that this change in the atom releases a lot of energy.
