Chernobyl demonstrated that nuclear energy can never be a secure form of generating energy
What will be an ideal response?
The Chernobyl accident certainly demonstrated that RBMK reactors react badly
when humans contravene every operating regulation in the manual. It reinforces the lesson
of Three Mile Island that human mistakes are responsible for many problems, and that,
given the opportunity, humans will make mistakes. The consequences of these mistakes are
glaringly obvious in retrospect. This means that it is a good idea to concentrate on training
of operators so that fewer mistakes get made, and those that do are reacted to in a more
efficient and straightforward manner than in the past. However, this remark is true of many
aspects of technology, from refineries to chemical plants to ammunition dumps.
So the primary lesson of Chernobyl (and Three Mile Island) is that all technology is
susceptible to misuse or mistake, and there is a need to make sure that people who work
with any "dangerous" technology clearly understand the risks involved and have learned
useful ways to respond to the inevitable problems that will arise from time to time, whether
from mischance or malevolence.
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A piston in an internal combustion engine applies torque during 
of each full rotation of the crankshaft to which it is connected. Suppose an 8-cylinder engine (8 such pistons) is running with its crankshaft turning at 2500rpm and produces 410J of work each second. What is the torque applied to the crank shaft by one of the engine’s eight pistons?
A. 3.8 Nm B. 1.6 Nm C. 0.47Nm D. 0.20 Nm
A bar magnet is held above the center of a conducting ring in the horizontal plane. The magnet is dropped so it falls lengthwise toward the center of the ring. Will the falling magnet be attracted toward the ring or be repelled by the ring due to the magnetic interaction of the magnet and the ring?
a. It will be attracted. b. It will be repelled. c. It will be attracted only if the north end of the magnet is the leading end as it falls toward the ring. d. It will be attracted only if the south end of the magnet is the leading end as it falls toward the ring.
A 3.0-kg object moving 8.0 m/s in the positive x direction has a one-dimensional elastic collision with an object (mass = M) initially at rest. After the collision the object of unknown mass has a velocity of 6.0 m/s in the positive x direction. What is M?
a. 7.5 kg b. 5.0 kg c. 6.0 kg d. 4.2 kg e. 8.0 kg
Evaporation and precipitation are greatest over the
A) polar ice caps. B) continents. C) oceans. D) equator.