Nuclear Power Feature Summary

Type:
From Physics Research
Title:
Nuclear Power
Description:
Nuclear reactors create heat through nuclear fission instead of burning fossil fuels. Learn about fission and how nuclear reactors work at Nuclear Power.

Why does the water in a nuclear reactor glow blue? When particles enter water moving faster than the speed of light in water, blue light is produced, like in the picture above. Read more about the mechanism here.
Image:
image credit: <a href="http://reactor.reed.edu/" target="_blank">Reed Research Reactor</a>, Creative Commons; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cerenkov_Effect.jpg" target="_blank">image source</a>; <a href="http://www.compadre.org/informal/images/features/Cerenkov_Effect-large.jpg" target="_blank">larger image</a>
image credit: Reed Research Reactor, Creative Commons; image source; larger image
Image URL:
https://www.compadre.org/Informal/images/features/Cerenkov_Effect-large.jpg
Featured:
November 1, 2009 - November 16, 2009