Nuclear binding-energy difference → Mechanical work
Nuclear binding-energy differenceNuclear fissionHot gasGas-dynamic expansionBulk fluid flowOcean wave motionMechanical motionMechanical work
Epistemic state of the route
- known constituent relations
- 6 / 7 established or replicated · weakest constituent demonstrated
- 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 Wave energy converter · 2/7 relations shared
- route-level evidence
- 0 sources for the complete composition · 8 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.24 · Nuclear binding-energy difference × Turbomachineryfamily: Turbomachinery
Steps
- 01nuclear → 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] - 02kinetic → 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] - 03thermal → kinetic · loss to thermal
- the gas has an upstream pressure state above the downstream nozzle or duct pressure
gasrefs [5] [6] - 04kinetic → kinetic
- a directed high-speed gas stream leaves the nozzle — the disequilibrium whose content is bulk fluid motion
refs [6] [5] - 05kinetic → mechanical · loss to thermal
- wind fetch over open water
liquidrefs [7] [8] - 06mechanical → mechanical
- a buoy, flap or water column following the wave
refs [7] - 07mechanical → mechanical · loss to thermalrefs [3]
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 · 8
- [1]O. Hahn, F. Strassmann. Über den Nachweis und das Verhalten der bei der Bestrahlung des Urans mittels Neutronen entstehenden Erdalkalimetalle (1939)
- [2]O. R. Frisch. Physical evidence for the division of heavy nuclei under neutron bombardment (1939)
- [3]A. Bejan. Advanced Engineering Thermodynamics (4th ed.) (2016)
- [4]U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Boiling Water Reactors — how a typical commercial BWR works (2025)
- [5]NASA Glenn Research Center. Nozzle Design (Beginner's Guide to Aeronautics) (2024)
- [6]J. Marlin Smith. Preliminary results in the NASA Lewis H2-O2 combustion MHD experiment (1979)
- [7]S. H. Salter. Wave power (1974)
- [8]J. Falnes. Ocean Waves and Oscillating Systems: Linear Interactions Including Wave-Energy Extraction (2002)
Cite this route
Physical Transformation Atlas (2026). route p-66fb872c9a: Nuclear binding-energy difference → Nuclear fission → Hot gas → Gas-dynamic expansion → Bulk fluid flow → Ocean wave motion → Mechanical motion → Mechanical work. Dataset revision rbfbfcbb70e57 (hash of the canonical data). https://physical-transformation-atlas.wldud5192.workers.dev/path/66fb872c9a
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.