PHYS 107X: Study Questions and Study suggestions for Test #3

This guide is to help you review for the test. I am listing questions and suggestions from each chapter that I believe represent the essentials. In addition I have included questions from the link on Nuclear Energy listed bellow. You should also review the questionnaire for the movie on Nuclear Theory and Energy

http://library.thinkquest.org/3471/

Click on the URL above and answer the following questions:

  1. State the accomplishments of the following scientists:
    1. Democritus
    2. Henrie Becquerel
    3. J. J. Thomson
    4. Earnest Rutherford
    5. Niels Bohr
    6. Chadwick
    7. Strasman and Frisch
    8. Enrico Fermi
  1. List the four fundamental forces of nature? Which force binds nuclei?
  2. List and identify the three types of radiation.
  3. Who discovered the formula E =mc2? What ate some of its consequences?
  4. Which nuclear devices or objects use fission and which use fusion:
    1. The sun and other stars______________
    2. Atomic bomb _____________
    3. Hydrogen bomb_____________
    4. Nuclear Reactor______________
    5. Thermonuclear Reactor_______________
  1. What was the purpose of the Manhattan Project?
  2. Name the two Japanese cities where atomic bombs were dropped in 1945. How many died in each city due to these explosions?
  3. State how nuclear science is used in medicine and archaeology.
  4. List some advantages and disadvantages of nuclear energy.
  5. What is the "Standard Model"?

 

 

Ch. 6. Nuclear Energy:

  1. What % of US electrical power is generated using nuclear reactors?
  2. When, where and by whom was the first experimental reactor built?
  3. When and where was the first US commercial reactor built?
  4. Define the following terms :
    1. Mass number
    2. Isotope
    3. Fusion
    4. Fission
    5. Atomic number
    6. Half-life
  1. Study example 6.1 (page 176)
  2. A wooden artifact from an archeological site has only 1/8 of its original (when it was part of a live tree) carbon-14. If the half-life of carbon tree is 5730 years, how old is the wooden artifact?
  3. Which isotope of Uranium is fissionable?
  4. How is Plutonium-239 produced?
  5. What is the difference between control rods and moderators in a nuclear reactor?
  6. What is the difference between BWR and PWR reactors?
  7. Is the Catawba Nuclear reactor a BWR or a PWR?
  8. By what % of 235U must a UO2 be enriched to a fuel for a nuclear reactor?
  9. By what % of 235U must a UO2 be enriched to be a fuel for a nuclear bomb?
  10. Why are breeder reactors discouraged in the US?
  11. Give reasons why a nuclear reactor can not explode like a nuclear bomb?
  12. What is the worst possible accident that can happen in a nuclear reactor? Where in the world did such an accident happen?
  13. What do the abbreviations LOCA and ECCS mean? Name a reactor in the US where there was an ECCS failure and LOCA happened.
  14. What was the movie China syndrome all about?
  15. Briefly state what happened at the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine? What was the major cause of this accident?
  16. What is a fundamental problem associated with nuclear power plants?
  17. What is the acceptable practice for disposal of low level nuclear waste?
  18. What are the plans for "welded Tuff" in Yucca Mountain in Nevada?
  19. What is fused to what in the sun and H-bombs?
  20. What is the major obstacle in building thermonuclear reactors?
  21. If thermonuclear actors where to be built what will be their advantage over present day nuclear reactors?

Key Terms:

Be able to define the key terms defined in page 206. Focus on the terms mentioned in class.

Multiple Choice Questions: Answer the following selected questions

1. 3. 5. 10. 11. 12. 14. 15. 16. 18. 19

Ch. 7: Energy Conservation. The URL below supplements Ch. 7

http://www.colorado.edu/GeolSci/courses/GEOL3520/ResComm/ResCommEnergy.html

  1. What is the difference between energy conservation as and the principle of conservation used in physics.
  2. From the URL above find out the % of total US energy used for space heating, water heating , appliances, air conditioning, refrigerators/ and lighting.
  3. What % of electrical energy is used for lightning?
  4. By examining Fig 7.1, figure out the % of heat energy lost in a typical conventionally insulated home through:
    1. Cracks in walls, windows and doors ___________ %
    2. Conventional windows ______________%
    3. Frame walls _______________%
    4. Basement walls ______________%
    5. Ceilings _____________________%
  1. Define degree-days for heating (see example 7.1) and degree-days for cooling (see your notes).
  2. During a cold 3-month (90 days) long winter in Rock Hill, the temperature averaged 35ºF. How many heating degree-days is this? (see example 7.1)
  3. During a hot 3-month summer the temperature in Rock Hill averaged 95ºF. How many cooling degree-days is this? (see your notes)
  4. What is air infiltration?
  5. In at typical house, what is the air infiltration rate?
  6. Why is it dangerous to seal a house too tightly so that the air infiltration rate is over 6 hours?
  7. What is the purpose of air-to-air heat exchanger? (see fig 7.2)
  8. Study example 7.2 and learn how to calculate total R-value.
  9. List at least three devices that can be used for space heating?
  10. In an extreme cold climate which is more e efficient ( or practical) a furnace that uses natural gas or a heat pump that uses electricity?
  11. What are some advantages of heat pumps?
  12. To conserve energy, what is the recommended thermostat setting in :
    1. In winter ____________
    2. In the summer___________
    3. When everybody is away in winter ___________
    4. When everybody is away in summer ___________

 

  1. Why is it unwise to turn off the furnace or the heat pump during freezing weather when you are away for a vacation?
  2. What do the following acronyms or abbreviations stand for:
    1. AFUE
    2. SEER
    3. VCR
    4. Btu
  1. As of 1991 what is the AFUE required by law for furnaces?
  2. How efficient can modern furnaces be?
  3. What is the efficiency of a typical wood-burning stove?
  4. What are some steps that one can take to optimize the energy a water heater uses? (section 7.3)
  5. Examine table 7.2. rank the following appliances from the most expensive to the lest expensive in terms 0f $/year needed to run them.
    1. TV
    2. Refrigerator
    3. Central AC
    4. Water heater
    5. A PC
    6. Clothes washer
    7. Clothes dryer
  1. How much efficient are fluorescent compared to incandescent light bulbs?
  2. How many times longer do fluorescent light bulbs last compared to incandescent light bulbs?
  3. List the cost of electricity to run a typical household refrigerator in : 1972 $_________, in 1997 $_______ in 2001 $___________ (expected)
  4. What % ot the electric energy do buildings and appliances use ? (see page 236)
  5. What % of electric energy is used for lighting?
  6. What is the national standard SEER Rating central air conditioners as of 1997?
  7. Why do we believe that as industries modernize that they will strive to be energy efficient?
  8. What advantage do public utility companies derive from encouraging energy conservation?
  9. How has the fast development in electronics helped us to conserve energy? (Read section 7.4.5)
  10. What is the fraction of energy saved by using recycled aluminum instead of mined aluminum?
  11. What fraction is recycled when three is no incentive and when there is a financial incentive?
  12. Which city in the US has the highest recycling rate? What is the %? (see page 238)
  13. Be able to define the key terms in page 240?
  14. Suggested question and problems:(page 241--242):2, 4, 11, 12
  15. Suggested Multiple choice questions (page 243 -244): 1, 2, 3, 6, 7,