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Squeezing Big Power from Tiny Atoms
Idaho scientists find atomic answers
If a storm has ever knocked out the power in your house, you understand what the world would be like without electricity.
To help make sure that we always have enough, Kathy McCarthy directs a team at the INEEL that explores new ways to make electricity. One way is to use the energy stored up inside atoms.
Everything you see and feel is made up of atoms: from your desk to your skin to the dirt outside. Atoms are even floating through the air around you.
There are more than 100 different types of atoms, but they all have one thing in common: all atoms consist of a center, or nucleus, surrounded by a cloud of tiny particles called electrons.
Things related to the nucleus are called nuclear - so nuclear energy comes from the nucleus of an atom.
The nucleus is made up of two types of particles: protons and neutrons. Some atoms have a nucleus that is unstable, like a balloon that has too much air. An overfilled balloon will often pop, releasing energy in the form of sound.
In an unstable nucleus, the protons and neutrons split apart from each other naturally. The extra energy is released as heat and radiation. Radiation is made up of tiny, fast-moving particles and powerful waves of energy. The heat that comes from unstable atoms can be used to make electricity. Radiation is used in medicine, food safety, and to figure out the age of old rocks and bones.
Kathy is the director of the Nuclear Science and Engineering team at the INEEL. This means that she is the boss of nearly 100 people who find new ways to harness nuclear energy and put it to good use.
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For more information on high school, teacher, and university education opportunities at the INEEL, see education.inel.gov.
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The nucleus of an atom is made up of _____________________________ and _____________________________, and is surrounded by a cloud of _____________________________.
Kathy McCarthy directs the _____________________________ team at INEEL. Radiation is used in _____________________________, _____________________________ and to figure out _____________________________.
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- INEEL - Short for the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Labora-tory. It is a place where scientists think of new ideas and engineers build things to make our lives better. One way they try to improve things is by coming up with better ways to make energy and electricity.
- Atoms - The individual units that make up the world’s basic ingredients, called elements. Some familiar elements are oxygen, helium, iron, gold, and carbon. Many types of elements, including carbon, have a certain number of naturally un-stable atoms that can release energy.
- Nuclear Energy - energy stored up inside an atom, which can be released from an unstable nucleus in the form of heat and radiation. Nuclear energy provides one fifth of the country’s electricity.
- Nuclear Science & Engineering - a team at INEEL that comes up with new ways to harness the energy stored inside atoms and put that energy to use.
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Kathy McCarthy lived in Livermore, California (close to San Francisco) until she was 13, then moved to Tempe, Arizona. She and her family did lots of backpacking in the Sierra Nevada Mountains -- one her favorite places is Yosemite National Park. After completing high school, she attended the University of Arizona in Tucson to study Nuclear Engineering, and then the University of California in Los Angeles. After finishing school, she worked in Germany for six months, and then Russia and Latvia for a year. She works on ways to produce electricity from atoms. She enjoys playing piano, and together with her family, skiing, hiking and camping.
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