Editing 2163: Chernobyl
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She compares the purpose of a nuclear reactor as a heat-generating device to primitive humans' way of heating by starting a fire. She goes on describing how a fire can be started by banging rocks (pieces of flint) to create sparks, which in turn would light a fire. Seeing that White Hat understands this simple activity, she compares starting a runaway nuclear fission reaction to banging rocks too hard, presumably splitting or crushing them and injuring the wielder. | She compares the purpose of a nuclear reactor as a heat-generating device to primitive humans' way of heating by starting a fire. She goes on describing how a fire can be started by banging rocks (pieces of flint) to create sparks, which in turn would light a fire. Seeing that White Hat understands this simple activity, she compares starting a runaway nuclear fission reaction to banging rocks too hard, presumably splitting or crushing them and injuring the wielder. | ||
| β | Nuclear reactions are often simplistically described and illustratively pictured as forcibly colliding colored balls representing various nuclear particles or nuclei, resulting in creating other balls, joining some into bigger ones, or splitting some into smaller ones. Fission reaction, in particular, involves a neutron causing a heavy nucleus to split into smaller parts, including more neutrons | + | Nuclear reactions are often simplistically described and illustratively pictured as forcibly colliding colored balls representing various nuclear particles or nuclei, resulting in creating other balls, joining some into bigger ones, or splitting some into smaller ones. Fission reaction, in particular, involves a neutron causing a heavy nucleus to split into smaller parts, including more neutrons. To facilitate nuclear reactions, particles need to carry great amounts of energy as compared to their tiny sizes and masses. This may evoke a mental image of hitting rocks too hard so they split. |
Alternatively, ''banging some rocks '''too''' hard'' may suggest to a person not entirely familiar with the process of starting fire by the use of flint, that instead of providing small sparks and lighting a controlled fire by striking flint moderately, overdoing it may create a huge uncontrolled fire – and it is what has happened in Chernobyl, a huge fire caused by reactor overheat and subsequent explosion and core meltdown, with additional harmful effect of spreading radioactive particles over large area by the fire's fumes. | Alternatively, ''banging some rocks '''too''' hard'' may suggest to a person not entirely familiar with the process of starting fire by the use of flint, that instead of providing small sparks and lighting a controlled fire by striking flint moderately, overdoing it may create a huge uncontrolled fire – and it is what has happened in Chernobyl, a huge fire caused by reactor overheat and subsequent explosion and core meltdown, with additional harmful effect of spreading radioactive particles over large area by the fire's fumes. | ||
