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Energy is at the Root of Everything

Published on Jan. 5, 2018: The Denki Shimbun (The Electric Daily News)
Shojiro Matsuura
President & CEO

For the commemorative 110th anniversary edition, the Denki Shimbun issued a call for essays on the topic of “the world 110 years in the future as viewed from the perspective of energy and the environment”. An essay entitled “Wake-up Call from 2127” by Takahisa Terada was selected as Best Essay. In his submission, he writes: “Energy is at the root of everything.” This sentence appears to be the basic principle touted by the author. The scientific validity of this principle may be explained by observations and experiments constructing a timeline for creation of the universe and its development since the Big Bang, which took place approximately 13.7 billion years ago.

It is believed that the origin of the Big Bang was at a point where time, space and a very small universe, which had such high density and energy levels that neither electromagnetic waves nor elementary particles could exist, arose simultaneously along with an external vacuum. The energy in the external vacuum caused this very small universe to expand at tremendous speed. This was what we know as the Big Bang.

As the universe expanded, it cooled rapidly and energy was converted into diverse elementary particles, having electric charge and mass, as well as electromagnetic waves. At the same time, the gravitational field and electromagnetic field also expanded together with the universe’s expansion. As the universe cooled, elementary particles bonded to constitute nucleons, such as mesons, protons and neutrons, which form the components of atomic nuclei. These nucleons, in turn, bonded to constitute the atomic nuclei of a wide range of elements that form the components of our world today. Eventually, these bonded with electrons to form atoms of the respective elements. Such an arrangement allowed our current world to come into existence.

In a star like Earth, which formed as countless atoms bundled together, the atoms of various elements bonded together with electrons to constitute molecules. Moreover, as different types of molecules formed through this bonding process, they even created living organisms that continued to automatically metabolize matter and energy. And at the very end of this process lies the creation of humankind.
What is essential to this process is that both expansion of the universe and all change resulting from elementary particles and atomic nuclei bonding and splitting happen due to energy. Moreover, energy is at the root of everything and moves forward the formation of everything. However, as with ordinary things as well, it is not possible to retrieve energy alone and present it as “Here, this is energy.” Energy lies in electric and magnetic fields as well as the movement of objects with which it is associated, and is latent inside the structure of such things.

For example, energy accumulates as nuclear force inside the structure of the atomic nucleus of uranium. This energy may be utilized by conversion through a nuclear reaction into thermal energy. On the other hand, in the structure of hydrocarbon molecules that constitute crude oil, chemical energy amasses and oxidation (combustion) allows such energy to be utilized. The most convenient form in which both are used is electric energy.

There is a very great difference between these reactions in terms of the amount of energy generated. For example, 21 tons of slightly enriched uranium will produce 1 GW-year of energy, but 1.55 million tons of oil is needed to do the same. At the root of this is the extreme difference in energy density able to be amassed in these nuclear and molecular structures.

Although electric energy (the flow of electrons) is convenient, it is impossible to directly amass electrons in large quantity and at high density. Even with the development of super-advanced batteries, these devices are still limited by molecular structure and unable to serve as a substitute at an equivalent energy density level due to the nuclear structure. Japan is able to collect almost limitless quantities of uranium from the Pacific. Shouldn’t we avail ourselves of the blessings bestowed on us by our modern civilization and retain the choice to shift Japan from being a country without energy resources to one that is energy independent for the benefit of our descendants 110 years from now?




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