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11 years ago
What exactly is energy MADE of? When an atom is split it releases energy. Is this energy in the form of photons? Photons also come in different energy "packets" such as x-rays, gamma, inferred... what exactly does it mean?

Also I know virtual particles can pop in and out of existence; any ideas where they come from?

Any links will help as well. thanks!
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#1
11 years ago
For your first question. During fission, some matter is converted directly to energy int the form of a lot of heat and light, including a wide variety of the spectrum, from gamma to visible to microwave.

For your second, no one knows where exactly.
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#2
11 years ago
We know what happens only from the results of experiments, but we cannot see it and we do not know where any of it comes from. Only the Creator knows. That is the great mystery of life and keeps us looking and reading as scientists.........

Fission energy is from nuclear forces. They are a huge part of what holds us and our world together. It is part of every particle or atom. There are also electrical forces involved. When you break the bonds of these forces, the forces have to go somewhere and you have tremendous forces released. Force creates energy and it can be made useful if it can be channeled and controlled.

Did you know that there is enough 'energy' in one single raisin to power a city for a day, if it could be accessed............... ?

A good analogy is that a battery provides 'electromotive force' and that provides electrical energy in the form of Joules (volts x amps / time).

Google 'quantum mechanics' and you will find links you are looking for.
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#3
11 years ago
They don't come from anywhere. And it is "infrared", not "inferred".
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#4
11 years ago
Hi. Virtual particles exist in theory because they do not violate any natural laws. You start with vacuum energy (whatever that is) and two particles pop into existence. One is normal matter and the other is anti-matter. They recombine and the result is nothing. No change with one extraordinary exception. If the pair form near the event horizon of a black hole it is possible for one to enter the black hole and have the other radiate away. This is called Hawking Radiation.
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#5
11 years ago
In a nuke reaction, both fission and fusion, the mass before the reaction is greater than the mass of the daughter elements after the reaction.  In math talk for the fission M > SUM(m) here the atom with mass M is split into daughter atoms each with some mass m.  The difference M - SUM(m) is called the mass deficiency; let's call that dM.  So the energy comes from E = dM c^2; that deficiency represents the mass that was converted into energy by the nuke reaction.

That energy, E, is manifest in many ways.  Radiant energy, heat and light, is a major form of energy.  These are of course the photons you were alluding to.  The heat, for example, is used to create steam to drive electricity generators at nuke power plants.  But in uncontrolled reactions, like in atomic bombs, sound, kinetic energy of ejecta and debris, and shock waves are also forms of energy created by the blast.  And as the reactions are uncontrolled, gamma rays might also be present...high energy photons. [See source.]

My understanding of virtual particles is not very good.  But to my sense on reading about them, they seem to come from the mathematics of quantum physics.  Virtual particles are those needed to explain sub atomic particle processes where no other explanations, using real particles, work.  

VPs come in and pop out under the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle between energy and time.  So, I'm not making this up, a VP pops in and out with its energy contribution (coupling) before nature has timed out and knows about it energy wise.  Quantum tunneling is another example of this borrowing from the energy pool and giving it back before nature knows it was missing.

That's my understanding.  I'd like to hear from someone who actually works with VPs.
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#6
11 years ago
The energy is partially high energy photons such as gamma rays, and partially in high speed particles such as neutrons and nucleus fragments.

They both get absorbed in the surroundings and change into heat.
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buddythedogggbuddythedoggg
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11 years ago
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