Scribd
Upload
14 views4 pages

Nuclear Fission and Fusion Explained

Nuclear fission involves the splitting of a large, unstable nucleus into smaller nuclei, releasing energy and neutrons, while nuclear fusion is the process of two light nuclei combining to form a heavier nucleus, which occurs in stars and requires extreme conditions. Both processes convert mass into energy, with fission typically using heavy isotopes like uranium and fusion primarily involving hydrogen isotopes. The energy produced from fusion is significantly greater than that from fission, with 1 kg of hydrogen yielding energy equivalent to burning 10 million kg of coal.

Uploaded by

Htaw Oo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
14 views4 pages

Nuclear Fission and Fusion Explained

Nuclear fission involves the splitting of a large, unstable nucleus into smaller nuclei, releasing energy and neutrons, while nuclear fusion is the process of two light nuclei combining to form a heavier nucleus, which occurs in stars and requires extreme conditions. Both processes convert mass into energy, with fission typically using heavy isotopes like uranium and fusion primarily involving hydrogen isotopes. The energy produced from fusion is significantly greater than that from fission, with 1 kg of hydrogen yielding energy equivalent to burning 10 million kg of coal.

Uploaded by

Htaw Oo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Fission & fusion

Nuclear fission & fusion are nuclear reactions that change the nucleus of an atom to produce
high amounts of energy from the energy stored in the nucleus of an atom
Nuclear fission
Nuclear fission is defined as the splitting of a large, unstable nucleus into two smaller nuclei.
During fission:
▪ A neutron collides with an unstable nucleus (the neutron and the nucleus are the
reactants)
▪ The nucleus splits into two smaller nuclei (called daughter nuclei) and two or three
neutrons (the daughter nuclei and the neutrons are the products of the reaction)
▪ Gamma rays are also emitted

Nuclear fission process


▪ A neutron is fired into the target nucleus, causing it to split
An example of a nuclide equation for the fission of uranium-235 is:
Where:
▪ is an unstable isotope of uranium
▪ is a neutron
▪ is an unstable isotope of krypton
▪ is an unstable isotope of barium
Nuclear fission of uranium-235

Nuclear fission mass and energy values


Energy is conserved in a nuclear fission reaction
In the example:
▪ The sum of the nucleon (top) numbers of the reactants (left-hand side) is equal to the
sum of the nucleon numbers of the products (right-hand side):
▪ The same is true for the proton (bottom) numbers:
▪ The products of fission move away very quickly

During a fission reaction, energy is transferred from nuclear energy store of the parent nucleus
to the kinetic energy store of the products
☺ The mass of the products is less than the mass of the original nucleus
☺ This is because the remaining mass has been converted into energy, which is released
during the fission process
☺ Large isotopes with a large nucleon number, such as uranium and plutonium, both
undergo fission and are used as fuels in nuclear power stations

Nuclear fusion
Nuclear fusion is defined as when two light nuclei join to form a heavier nucleus.
Stars use nuclear fusion to produce energy
In most stars, hydrogen nuclei (light nuclei) are fused together to form a helium nucleus
(heavier nucleus) and massive amounts of energy is produced
Nuclear fusion of Hydrogen

Two hydrogen nuclei fuse to form a helium nucleus. Nuclear fusion requires extremely high
temperature and pressure So fusion is very hard to reproduce on Earth
Nuclear fusion nuclide equations
Where:
is deuterium (isotope of hydrogen with 1 proton and 1 neutron)
is hydrogen (with one proton)
is an isotope of helium (with two protons and one neutron)
Nuclear fusion mass and energy values
The energy produced during nuclear fusion comes from a very small amount of a particle’s mass
converted into energy. Therefore, the mass of the product (fused nucleus) is less than the mass
of the two original nuclei (reactants).
The remaining mass has been converted into the energy released when the nuclei fuse
The amount of energy released during nuclear fusion is huge:
The energy from 1 kg of hydrogen that undergoes fusion is equivalent to the energy from
burning about 10 million kilograms of coal

You might also like