Steven Horwitz, age 8, of Broomall, Pennsylvania, for his question:

Is there electrical energy in radioactivity?

Radioactivity is a zooming burst of many kinds of energy, including light, heat and speed. In several phases of the dynamic process, high speed electrons are emitted. This means that there is indeed electrical energy in radioactivity. But this electrical energy is not harnessed directly by a nuclear power plant, as you might at first suppose.

Electricity is the motion of electrons and an electron is a sub atomic particle bearing a negative charge of electricity. The great forces of electricity and magnetism are related. Moving electrons can be deflected by a magnetic field, and the paths of stray electrons will bend toward the positive end of a nearby magnet. This turns out to be a very useful factor, as we shall see later on.

A radioactive substance emits constant streams of assorted particles and some of these particles are electrons. Streams of electrons from radium, uranium and other radioactive _ substances travel with almost the speed of light. This speed energy transforms the well mannered midget electrons info forceful giants. They zoom out like streams of miniature missiles. Like bullets, they pierce solids, liquids and gases in their paths. These sub microscopic bullets are called beta rays. The beta rays emitted by uranium have enough sped energy to pierce several inches of the air and it takes a board half an inch thick to stop, them in their tracks.

Since beta rays are moving electrons, their energy is electrical. There are, however, several types and degrees of electrical energy. The electrical energy of radioactivity is intense and usually of short duration. Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity. Even our electrical power may be of two kinds. In direct current, electrons move through the wire circuit in the same direction. In alternating current, the energetic midgets dog back and forth at 60 times per second or even more frequently.

Since electrical energy is part and parcel of radioactivity, it is natural to assume that a nuclear reactor diverts beta rays through our wire circuits. But it does not do this. Nor does it directly lead any other type of radioactive energy into our power lines. However, scientists have found some very useful chores for the electrical energy of beta rays to perform. Their paths, remember, can be deflected by a magnetic field. And scientists electrical energy in radioactivity have instruments that reveal their searing trails as these high speed bullets pass through other substances. Now and then, a bullet strikes the nucleus of an atom, chipping or shattering its fragments asunder. These nuclear particles also respond to a magnetic field and their paths can be observed. Often they reveal the contents structure of the atomic nucleus before it collided with the energetic beta ray.

Radium glows in the dark and a mere touch causes a severs burr, All radioactive materials emit some degree of heat, the same kind of heat me get f*m q firs. However, radioactive heat is mixed with other searing energies and tie cannot bums uranium in an ordinary stove. A nuclear reactor, however, is built to control the dangerous energies of radioactivity and utilize its heat. A nuclear power plant uses the heat from radioactivity to boil water to steam. The steam, like steam from an ordinary boiler, is piped .off to ran the turbines that generate air electrical power system.