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How Does a Nuclear Reactor Work?
A nuclear reactor controls a self-sustaining fission chain reaction so that heat can be removed safely and used for a practical purpose such as generating electricity, p…
Energy
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Articles about Energy
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What Is Nuclear Waste and How Is It Managed?
Nuclear waste is radioactive material that requires controlled handling because its radioactivity or other hazardous properties persist after use. The term covers severa…
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What Is Nuclear Energy and How Does Nuclear Power Work?
Nuclear power generates heat from fission, the splitting of heavy atomic nuclei such as uranium. A power plant uses that heat to make steam and drive a turbine-generator…
Environment
What Are Seismic Waves?
Seismic waves are vibrations that carry energy away from an earthquake, explosion or other sudden source. Their speed and path depend on the elastic properties and densi…
Environment
How Do Earthquakes Happen?
Earthquakes happen when stress accumulated in rocks is released suddenly as a fault slips. Tectonic plates move continuously, but friction can lock parts of their bounda…
Environment
How Do Climate Models Work?
Climate models are mathematical representations of the atmosphere, ocean, land, ice and the exchanges of energy and matter among them. They are built from physical laws…
Space science
What Is a Geomagnetic Storm?
A geomagnetic storm is a prolonged disturbance of Earth's magnetosphere caused by enhanced energy transfer from the solar wind. The most significant storms are often ass…
Space science
What Is a Solar Flare?
A solar flare is a rapid release of magnetic energy in the Sun's atmosphere. Flares can brighten dramatically in X-rays and extreme ultraviolet radiation and can acceler…
Space science
What Are the Northern Lights and Why Do Auroras Happen?
Auroras occur when energetic charged particles are guided by Earth's magnetic field into the upper atmosphere, where collisions with oxygen and nitrogen produce light. T…
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What Is Fusion Ignition?
Fusion ignition is a condition in which heating from fusion products becomes strong enough to sustain or amplify the fusion burn without relying only on continued extern…
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How Does a Fusion Reactor Work?
A fusion reactor aims to create a hot plasma in which light nuclei fuse, confine or compress that plasma long enough to release useful energy, then capture the energy in…
New technology
How Do Lithium-Ion Batteries Work?
Lithium-ion batteries store and release energy by moving lithium ions between two electrodes through an electrolyte while electrons travel through the external circuit t…
New technology
What Is Energy Storage and Why Does It Matter?
Energy storage captures energy when it is available and releases it later, helping power systems match supply with demand across timescales from seconds to seasons.
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What Is the Large Hadron Collider?
The Large Hadron Collider is CERN’s 27-kilometer particle accelerator that circulates beams of protons or heavy ions in opposite directions and collides them so experime…
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What Is Particle Physics?
Particle physics studies the fundamental constituents of matter and radiation, the forces that act between them, and the high-energy processes that reveal how nature wor…