Physical Transformation AtlasPTA
Pathway · p-37781940ce · extends a recorded pathway

Nuclear binding-energy difference → Electrical work

Nuclear binding-energy differenceNuclear fissionHot gasWorking-fluid expansion (heat-engine cycle)Mechanical motionElectromagnetic inductionCharge carriersElectrical work

Epistemic state of the route

known constituent relations
7 / 7 established or replicated · weakest constituent established
constituent maturity floor
K4 · experimentally observed
search for this exact route
Not assessed — complete composition not searched.
recorded-pathway overlap
shares relations, in order, with Boiling-water reactor direct-steam plant · 4/7 relations shared
route-level evidence
0 sources for the complete composition · 9 cited by the constituent steps
boundaries and interfaces
BOUNDARY compatible · no region transition

Explorematrix context · physics checks · steps · route evidence · constituent evidence · cite

Matrix context

D = disequilibrium row · C = coupling family column. A cell reads the state of the atlas for that pair.

D.20 × C.27 · Nuclear binding-energy difference × Nuclear heatfamily: Nuclear heatD.20 × C.08 · Nuclear binding-energy difference × Heat engine (thermomechanical)family: Heat engine (thermomechanical)D.20 × C.14 · Nuclear binding-energy difference × Electromagnetic inductionfamily: Electromagnetic induction

Typed bounds on this route

Every limit the atlas holds for this route, as constraint records: reached through bounded_by claims on the route's own entities. Hard bounds (an upper bound or a formula) decide the thermodynamic-bound check above; benchmarks, constitutive relations and resource limits are listed and never decisive. No prose limit exists anywhere (pass 42).

Steps

  1. 01
    nuclear → kinetic · loss to radiative
    • for neutron-induced fission: a fissionable nuclide and an incident neutron in an energy range with non-zero fission cross-section
    • critical geometry is required only for a self-sustaining chain reaction; a moderator is reactor-design dependent
    About 200 MeV per event, almost all as fragment kinetic energy (Frisch 1939); thermalisation is a separate step.
    refs [1] [2]
  2. 02
    Nuclear fission —produces→ Hot gasestablishedclaim record
    kinetic → thermal · loss to radiative
    • fission heating produces a vapour or gas working fluid in a DIRECTLY heated, same-circuit configuration: the reactor coolant itself boils in the vessel and its steam goes to the turbine (a boiling-water reactor), or the fissioning or fission-heated gas is the working medium (a gas-core or fissioning-plasma reactor)
    • not a pressurised-water reactor: there fission heats a pressurised liquid whose heat crosses a steam generator into a separate secondary circuit — the heat exchanger, not the core, makes the turbine's steam, and that topology belongs to the system layer, never hidden inside this claim (pass 38)
    refs [3] [4]
  3. 03
    thermal → mechanical · loss to thermal
    • the hot gas expands through a turbine or against a piston from an upstream pressure to a lower downstream pressure
    gas · above ~700 K
    refs [3] [5]
  4. 04
    mechanical → mechanical · loss to thermal
    refs [3]
  5. 05
    mechanical → electrical · loss to thermal
    • a magnet moving relative to a coil
    conductor required · magnetic field required
    refs [6] [7]
  6. 06
    electrical → electrical · loss to thermal
    refs [6] [8]
  7. 07
    Charge carriers —converts into→ Electrical workestablishedclaim record
    electrical → electrical · loss to thermal
    • carriers driven through an external load at the potential difference the source maintains
    refs [9]

Evidence for the complete composition · 0

No source on record for this exact composition. The sources below support the individual steps, not the route as a whole.

Evidence for the constituent relations · 9

  1. [1]
    O. Hahn, F. Strassmann. Über den Nachweis und das Verhalten der bei der Bestrahlung des Urans mittels Neutronen entstehenden Erdalkalimetalle (1939)
    Naturwissenschaften 27, 11–15 · doi:10.1007/BF01488241 · crossref ✓ 2026-09-19 · record
  2. [2]
    O. R. Frisch. Physical evidence for the division of heavy nuclei under neutron bombardment (1939)
    Nature 143, 276 · doi:10.1038/143276a0 · crossref ✓ 2026-09-19 · record
  3. [3]
    A. Bejan. Advanced Engineering Thermodynamics (4th ed.) (2016)
    Wiley · doi:10.1002/9781119245964 · crossref ✓ 2026-09-19 · record
  4. [4]
    U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Boiling Water Reactors — how a typical commercial BWR works (2025)
  5. [5]
    S. L. Dixon, C. A. Hall. Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics of Turbomachinery (7th ed.) (2014)
    Butterworth-Heinemann · doi:10.1016/C2011-0-05059-7 · crossref ✓ 2026-09-19 · record
  6. [6]
    M. Faraday. Experimental researches in electricity (1832)
    Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 122, 125–162 · doi:10.1098/rstl.1832.0006 · crossref ✓ 2026-09-19 · record
  7. [7]
    S. P. Beeby, et al.. A micro electromagnetic generator for vibration energy harvesting (2007)
    Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering 17, 1257 · doi:10.1088/0960-1317/17/7/007 · crossref ✓ 2026-09-19 · record
  8. [8]
    L. D. Landau, E. M. Lifshitz, L. P. Pitaevskii. Electrodynamics of Continuous Media (Course of Theoretical Physics, Vol. 8, 2nd ed.) (1984)
    Pergamon · book, no DOI · record
  9. [9]
    N. W. Ashcroft, N. D. Mermin. Solid State Physics (1976)
    Holt, Rinehart and Winston · book, no DOI · record

Cite this route

Physical Transformation Atlas (2026). route p-37781940ce: Nuclear binding-energy difference → Nuclear fission → Hot gas → Working-fluid expansion (heat-engine cycle) → Mechanical motion → Electromagnetic induction → Charge carriers → Electrical work. Dataset revision rbfbfcbb70e57 (hash of the canonical data). https://physical-transformation-atlas.wldud5192.workers.dev/path/37781940ce

Ids and matrix addresses are stable across revisions; the revision hash identifies the exact canonical files the record was compiled from and is meta.data_hash in every /api export. Reuse terms: see the license field in any export.