Argument Against Nuclear Power and Biography of Rutherford
Uploaded by on Aug 06, 2008
Rutherford was aware of the nuclear energy trapped in the atom. He thought the energy could not be utilised efficiently and he hoped that methods would not be discovered until man was at peace with his neighbors.
Discuss.
In this essay I am going to discuss Rutherford’s impact on science and nuclear energy. Also share some of my opinions about the usage of nuclear power.
Ernest Rutherford was a physicist and a Nobel Prize winner in chemistry. He became known as the ‘father’ of nuclear physics. He is best known for being the first man to split the atom and the discovery of the proton. Another important fact about Rutherford’s scientific career was that he mentored 9 students who went onto win Nobel Prizes later on in their life. He has left behind quite a legacy too; an element is named after him also a crater on Mars and the moon are named after him.
I think what he said about the use of nuclear technology was very insightful as what he foresaw happening if the technology was indeed harnessed was correct. He was right to say that the energy could not be ‘utilised efficiently’ as they ended up making a devastating bomb and led to the end of the second world war but the peace was short-lived as it transformed into the cold war which involved a nuclear arms race where America and the Soviet Union made nuclear bombs bigger and better. But luckily this mass pile up of nuclear explosives did not result with a war because attacking the opposing country would mean that the destruction of the attacking country also, this was called mutually assured destruction (MAD).
My stand on nuclear energy is that I disagree with the use of it. Nuclear energy is not a good choice as an energy source because of the various disadvantages of this source of energy.
One of the problems with nuclear power is that the difficulty with the management of radioactive waste is still unsolved and this highly dangerous material has to be carefully looked after for more then 8000 years which could be hazardous for future generations as well unless we can come up with some solution in the near future. Also there is the prospect of an accident which would be very dangerous for the surrounding populated areas (for example: The Chernobyl accident in April, 1986, in Russia).
Moreover the technology used for...