(a) Differentiate between nuclear fission and nuclear fusion.

(b) Which of the two, nuclear fission and nuclear fusion,  is made use of:
(i) for the production of electricity?
(ii) for making a hydrogen bomb?
(c) Which produces more energy: nuclear fusion or nuclear fission?
(d) Calculate the energy released in joules when 5 g of a material is completely converted into energy doing a nuclear reaction.
(e) How much is this energy in MeV? (Speed of light = 3 × 10⁸ m/s)

(a) The difference between nuclear fission and nuclear fusion are as follows:

(b) (i) Nuclear fission is used for the production of electricity.

     (ii) Nuclear fusion is used for making hydrogen bombs.

(c) Nuclear fusion produces more energy than nuclear fission, as the energy released by fusion is three to four times greater than the energy released by fission.

(d) Given,

Mass, m = 5g =  $(\frac {5}{1000}kg)$.

Speed of light, c = 3.8 × 10⁸ m/s.

To find: Energy, $E$ (in Joules).

Solution

We know Einstein's equation as:

$E=m{c}^{2}$

Substituting the given values in the above equation

$E=\left(\frac{5}{1000}\right)\times {\left(3\times {10}^{8}\right)}^{2}$   

$E=4.5\times {10}^{14}J$

Hence, the energy released = 4.5 x 10 ¹⁴Joule

(e) The energy in MeV is given by:  

$1MeV=1.602\times {10}^{-13}J$

$1J=\frac{1}{1.602\times {10}^{-13}}MeV$

$4.5\times {10}^{14}J=\frac{1}{1.602\times {10}^{-13}}\times 4.5\times {10}^{14}=2.8\times {10}^{27}MeV$

This energy in MeV = 2.8 × 1027 MeV

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Updated on: 10-Oct-2022

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