Click2Flicks - K-19: The Widowmaker, The Story Behind the Movie, How It Works (Simply Speaking), Chapter 3

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b><i>K-19: THE WIDOWMAKER</i></p> <p><font size="4">CHAPTER 3 - HOW IT WORKS<br> (SIMPLY SPEAKING)</b></font></p> </div>  </font> <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">All matter is made up of <a href="http://howstuffworks.lycoszone.com/atom.htm" target="_blank"><b>atoms</b></a>. The central body of an atom is called a <a href="http://liub.etsu.edu:8001/~jane/ch1110-97f/chpt2_2/sld018.htm" target="_blank"><b>nucleus</b></a>. The nucleus consists of protons (<a href="http://liub.etsu.edu:8001/~jane/ch1110-97f/chpt2_2/sld019.htm" target="_blank"><b>positively</b></a> charged particles) and neutrons (particles with no electrical charge). <a href="http://www.aip.org/history/electron/jjhome.htm" target="_blank"><b>Electrons</b></a> (negatively charged particles) are located <a href="http://web.jjay.cuny.edu/~acarpi/NSC/3-atoms.htm" target="_blank"><b>outside</b></a> the atom’s nucleus.</p> <p>In some types of atoms (like <a href="http://www.uic.com.au/uran.htm" target="_blank"><b>uranium</b></a>), the nucleus is unstable and capable of breaking up, thereby releasing that atom’s neutrons. When those "on-the-loose" neutrons hit other atoms (more uranium atoms, for example), they ALSO split. The <a href="http://www.nei.org/scienceclub/nuclearworld/nw_splittingatom.html" target="_blank"><b>splitting</b></a> of those atoms is called "fission." <a href="http://www.bnl.gov/bgrr/Glossary/chainrxn.html" target="_blank"><b>Fission</b></a> (in a <a href="http://lectureonline.cl.msu.edu/~mmp/applist/chain/chain.htm" target="_blank"><b>chain reaction</b></a>) releases more neutrons plus heat.</p> <p>(The discovery of fission by German scientists, in 1938, led Einstein and his colleagues to worry that Germany could create a new type of bomb. Concerned, Einstein sent a <a href="http://www.atomicmuseum.com/tour/aa3.cfm" target="_blank"><b>letter</b></a> to President Roosevelt. Although FDR <a href="http://www.atomicmuseum.com/tour/aa4.cfm" target="_blank"><b>created</b></a> a commission as a result of the letter, not much was initially done about it. It ultimately led, however, to the "<a href="http://www.me.utexas.edu/~uer/manhattan/project.html" target="_blank"><b>Manhattan Project</b></a>" and the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs.)</p> <p>Splitting atoms - or nuclear fission - produces energy (in the form of heat) called nuclear energy. The key to controlling the splitting of atoms, thereby managing the power of nuclear energy, lies in knowing how to stop the chain reaction. <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/29/13/29-1232a.gif" target="_blank"><b>Enrico</b></a> <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/dp42fe.html" target="_blank"><b>Fermi</b></a>, at the University of Chicago, <a href="http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1938/fermi-bio.html" target="_blank"><b>discovered</b></a> how to do that. His <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/29/13/29-1245a.gif" target="_blank"><b>nuclear reactor</b></a> was the first in the world.</p> <p>Today, <a href="http://www.nei.org/scienceclub/nuclearworld/nw_hownppworks.html" target="_blank"><b>power plants</b></a> in various countries use <a href="http://www.nei.org/scienceclub/nuclearworld/nw_safeplants.html" target="_blank"><b>nuclear reactors</b></a> (instead of <a href="http://www.nucleartourist.com/images/plant-c.jpg" target="_blank"><b>burning coal</b></a>) to <a href="http://www.nucleartourist.com/images/plant-n.jpg" target="_blank"><b>create</b></a> <a href="http://www.nucleartourist.com/images/ovu-n.jpg" target="_blank"><b>electricity</b></a>. The same concept applies to nuclear-powered submarines where the energy produced from nuclear reactions (not fossil fuel) <a href="http://www.nei.org/scienceclub/nuclearworld/nw_nuclearenergy.html" target="_blank"><b>powers</b></a> the <a href="http://www.nei.org/scienceclub/nuclearworld/nw_technologies.html" target="_blank"><b>ship</b></a>. Always at issue, among other things, is the safe <a href="http://www.nei.org/scienceclub/nuclearworld/nw_safedisposal.html" target="_blank"><b>disposal</b></a> of nuclear <a href="http://www.nei.org/scienceclub/nuclearworld/nw_waste.html" target="_blank"><b>waste</b></a>.</p> <p>On 29 August 1949, the Soviet Union detonated its <a href="http://www.em.doe.gov/timeline/aug1949.html" target="_blank"><b>first</b></a> nuclear (atomic) bomb. The Cold War, with its <a href="http://www.em.doe.gov/timeline/jan1950.html" target="_blank"><b>threats</b></a> of mass destruction and political <a href="http://www.em.doe.gov/timeline/nov1956.html" target="_blank"><b>domination</b></a>, had begun.</p> <p>With the arrival of <i>K-19</i>, in 1961, both the U.S. and the Soviet Union possessed nuclear-powered submarines equipped with nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles. The arms race, it is often said, can be directly traced to those submarines.</p> </div> <p align="center"><font face="arial, helvetica" size="2"><a href="k19_widowmaker_ch2.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>     <a href="k19_widowmaker_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER  </a>   <a href="k19_widowmaker_ch4.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </body>