9781422285640

INTRODUCTION U ranium has many faces, and it packs quite a punch. It is a source of immense energy and wonder. It is shiny and bright, just like silver, but if you were to pick a chunk of it up, you’d find it very weighty—19 times as heavy as an equal volume of water. In fact, uranium is the heaviest element in nature—and the most energetic. When uranium atoms are split through a process called fission, they can light a town, power a submarine, or destroy a city.

7 An abandoned uranium mine in Utah. (XScream1/Dreamstime)