Difference Between Nuclear Energy and Light Energy

The key difference between nuclear energy and light energy is that the nuclear energy refers to the energy that comes from splitting an atom into subatomic particles whereas the light energy is the potential of light to perform work.

Both nuclear energy and light energy are very important sources of energy that we can use mainly to produce electricity. We need to deal with atoms in order to get nuclear energy while we need to deal with sources of light in order to get the use of light energy. This is another important difference between nuclear energy and light energy.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Nuclear Energy
3. What is Light Energy
4. Side by Side Comparison – Nuclear Energy and Light Energy in Tabular Form
5. Summary

What is Nuclear Energy?

Nuclear energy is a form of energy that comes from the splitting of atoms into subatomic particles. An atom essentially contains an atomic nucleus, which has protons and neutrons as subatomic particles. The energy stored within this atomic nucleus is the nuclear energy that we can use as a source of energy. The most common application of this form of energy is to generate heat that ultimately produces electricity by using this heat in steam turbines in the nuclear power plants.

One of the major advantages of this energy form is that it has no carbon emissions because the nuclear reactors in the nuclear power plant use Uranium in the place of fossil fuels. The ways of generating this energy include nuclear decay, nuclear fission and nuclear fusion. However, this is a non-renewable energy source. Yet, it shows very low emissions of greenhouse gases when compared with renewable energy forms.

Some benefits of nuclear energy as follows:

• Provide us with carbon-free electricity.
• Environment-friendly energy source.
• Helps to face the increasing demand for energy.
• Job opportunities at nuclear power plants.
• No emission of air pollutants such as nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, etc
• Contributes to the development of the country.

What is Light Energy?

Light energy is a major source of energy and also a renewable form of energy. It is the potential of light to perform work. This is the only form of energy that is visible to us. It is a kind of kinetic energy, and it is the electromagnetic radiation emitted from light sources such as the sun, lasers, bulbs, etc. This electromagnetic radiation contains minute packets of energy; we call them photons. When the atoms of objects get heated up, it produces photons which then emit as light.

The light travels through the air as a wave. It does not require matter to pass this energy. That’s why the sunlight comes to us through space where there is no air. The light energy travels faster than anything. We can give the speed of light as 186,282 miles per second or 300,000 km/s. Since this energy form is always in the movement, we cannot store it anywhere; we can only convert it into another energy form such as electricity.

The uses of light energy are as follows:

• The only source of energy for the generation of food by plants.
• Visibility of things is only because of light.
• The visibility of colours is only because of light.
• Production of electricity from light energy via simple solar panels.

What is the Difference Between Nuclear Energy and Light Energy?

Nuclear energy is a form of energy that comes from the splitting of atoms into subatomic particles whereas light energy is the potential of light to perform work. This is the main difference between the two forms of energy. Another important difference between nuclear energy and light energy is that nuclear energy is a non-renewable energy form while light energy is a renewable energy form. However, both these are very environmentally friendly energy sources.

Summary – Nuclear Energy vs Light Energy

Nuclear energy and light energy are two energy forms that we use mainly to produce electricity in industries. Both these are environmental friendly energy sources. The key difference between nuclear energy and light energy is that the nuclear energy refers to the energy that comes from splitting an atom into subatomic particles whereas the light energy is the potential of light to perform work.

Reference:

1. “What Is Nuclear Energy?” Nuclear Energy Institute. Available here  
2. “Physics.” Chemistry, Byjus Classes. Available here  

Image Courtesy:

1.”USS Enterprise (CVAN-65), USS Long Beach (CGN-9) and USS Bainbridge (DLGN-25) underway in the Mediterranean Sea during Operation Sea Orbit, in 1964″By U.S. Navy – Official US Navy photograph (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia  
2.”3380898″ by Tumisu (CC0) via pixabay