What are similarities in the way the sun and a nuclear power plant produce energy?

Both the sun and a nuclear power plant use nuclear processes--but they do use different ones.





A nuclear powerplant uses "fission"--splitting large atoms of uranium or plutonium. Put simply, the material is configured so the natural radioactivity of the material is enhanced--producing more and more neutrons in a "chain reaction." Each time an atom is split, it releases more neutros to keep the reaction goinng-and some of the material is released as pure energy.





The sun goes in the opposite direction. Small atoms--hydrogen mostly--are "fused"--forced together instead of being split. For hydrogen and other light atoms, this releases energy (unlike the heavy atoms, where the oposite is true). The Sun does this essentially by brute force--the core of the Sun is compressed and heated by the massive gravity of the Sun to unimaginable heat and pressure, which forces the hydrogen atoms to fuse, producing helium--and releasing energy in the process.





Fusion is actually far more efficient. A nuclear fission powerplant only releases a tiny amount of the enrgy in the atoms; the Sun's fusiion releases a lot more--about 4% of the mass of the atoms.





Because fusion is much more efficient (and the various matierials that can be sued as fuel are more commonthan uranium, etc) scientists are working on how to harness nuclear fusion. but its a difficult project--and may take decades. If they can, however, there are other advantages as well, besides the efficiency. A nuclear fusion reaction cannot "melt down" in theevent of a malfunction--the reaction isn't self-sustaining, so it would just stop. Even better--a nuclear fusion process would produce little or no radioactive waste, eliminating that problem as well.

What are similarities in the way the sun and a nuclear power plant produce energy?
The sun makes energy by a process called fusion. Protons and neutrons are smashed together to form new atoms. Energy is released because the protons and neutrons are brought to lower energy states when they fuse but they still store large amounts of energy.


Nuclear reactors use the opposite process called fission. They spit large atoms apart releasing the energy that holds them together.
Reply:The sun employs nookular fusion while earthbound power plants use nookular fission.
Reply:None





One is a fission reaction, the other is a fusion reaction.
Reply:They both use nuclear reactions.





The difference is the Sun combines two light atoms into one heavier atom, while all operating reactors on Earth split one heavy atom into two lighter atoms.