They explained how a power plant works in the Chernobyl mini-series. One part that got me thinking is how they use the energy from the fission to heat up that generate the steam which in turn run the turbin and give electricity (Correct me if i’m wrong).
What I don’t understand is why can’t the raw energy from the fission directly be used instead of going the whole cycle? What kind of energy is released from the fission and why can’t it be stored in a battery or capacitor-like thing?
In: Physics
the energy emission from fission is heat already.
The problem of turning heat into something usable like electricity is an engineering problem well studied by two centuries (thermodynamics), and their solution (steam engines) have already reached very high efficiency.
In other words: converting heat to stream, steam (and a source of cold water) to rotation, rotation to electricity has currently the highest efficiency of energy extraction.
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