It is the gamma radiation of nuclear waste
Research in The field of batteries It does not cease. And it is understandable that it is so. The popularization of the electric car requires that these energy storage devices have The best possible benefits. As we suggest in the headline, the protagonist of this article is a technology that pursues Develop nuclear batteries For electronic devices. This idea is the fruit of an investigation developed by a group of engineers from Ohio State University (USA). In the article they have published in Optical materials: x They argue that it is possible to use the radioactive waste resulting from the activity of the fission reactors in operation to generate the electricity that many electronic devices require. “We are taking advantage of something that is considered a waste and trying to transform it into a treasure,” has declared Raymond Caonuclear engineer and one of the authors of the article. To test their idea they have manufactured a small prototype battery that has an approximate volume of 4 cubic centimeters. Its plan consists of introducing CESIO-137 or cobalt-60, two radioactive chemical elements that are usually the product of nuclear fission, with the purpose of using Gamma radiation They emit for Generate a small amount of electricity. Its prototype delivered 288 nanovatos with Cesio-137 and 1.5 microvatts with cobalt-60. It is evident that it is very little electricity, but these scientists are able to improve their technology enough to feed some not very demanding electronic devices, such as small sensors or monitors that require little maintenance. In any case, they do not propose these batteries for the consumer market. If they manage to refine their technology, they maintain that it can be used on devices housed near the facilities in which the radioactive residue occurs, such as, for example, inside the nuclear plants. On the other hand, they ensure that their battery can be handled safely and will not contaminate the environment. Gamma radiation is very penetrating, which will force them to put a very robust protective enclosure. In addition, they leave another question in the air: it is not clear what the useful life of such a battery will be. Gamma is a form of ionizing radiation Radioactivity is the process of natural origin that explains how An atomic nucleus Unstable loses energy in the attempt to achieve a more stable state. And to achieve this emits radiation. Around the nucleus orbit one or several elementary particles even much more tiny and with negative electric charge to which we call electrons. The nucleus, in turn, is made up of one or more protons, which are particles with positive electric charge. The simplest atom That we can find in nature is that of Protio (Hydrogen-1), an isotope of hydrogen that has a single proton in its nucleus and a single electron orbiting around it. The problem is that matter is not composed only of protio, but also of many other more complex and heavy chemical elements, and that, therefore, have more protons in their nucleus and more electrons orbiting around it. How is it possible that there is more than one proton in the nucleus If all of them have a positive electric charge? The reasonable thing is to think that they could not be close together because having the same elementary electric charge would repel. And yes, this idea is consistent. Those responsible for solving this dilemma are neutrons, the particles that live with the protons in the atomic nucleus. The Higgs field is a fundamental interaction that explains how particles acquire their mass Unlike protons, neutrons have neutral global electric charge, so they do not “feel” either repulsion or electromagnetic attraction to which protons and electrons are exposed. The function of neutrons is none other than stabilizing the nucleus, allowing several protons to live in it that, otherwise, would repel. And they manage to do so thanks to the action of one of the four fundamental forces of nature: strong nuclear interaction. The other three forces are electromagnetic interaction, gravity and weak nuclear interaction. Physicists usually place this same level The Higgs fieldwhich is another fundamental interaction that explains How particles acquire their massbut to facilitate their understanding, the texts usually collect as fundamental forces the four that I have mentioned a little higher because they are somehow with which we are all familiar. The nucleones, which are the protons and neutrons of the atomic nucleus, manage to stay together and overcome the natural repulsion that protons face because the presence of neutrons allows strong nuclear force to exercise as a glue capable of imposing itself to electromagnetic force. Strong nuclear interaction has a very small reach, but at short distances its intensity is enormous. The important thing about all this is that neutrons, as I advanced a few lines above, act stabilizing the atomic nucleus, so that as an atom has more protons, it will also need that in its nucleus there are more neutrons so that the attractive strong force manages to impose itself to the repulsive electromagnetic force. Interestingly, the balance between the amount of protons and neutrons is very delicate. An atom is stable if its nucleus has a precise amount of nucleons and the distribution of these between protons and neutrons allows strong nuclear interaction to act as “glue.” For this reason in nature we can only find A finite amount of chemical elements: those that collect the periodic table with which we are all to a greater or lesser extent familiar. Any other combination of protons and neutrons would not allow to maintain that fine balance, giving rise to an unstable atom. What differentiates a stable atom from an unstable one is that in the nucleus of the latter the strong nuclear interaction and electromagnetic force are not in equilibrium, so the atom needs to modify its structure to achieve a state of less energy that allows it to adopt a more stable configuration. A stable atom is “comfortable” with its current structure and … Read more