What is nuclear fission? Explain with an example. Write the equation of the nuclear reaction involved.


Nuclear fission

It is the process by which the heavy nucleus of a radioactive atom (such as uranium) splits up into smaller nuclei when bombarded with low-energy neutrons.


Example: 

When the heavy nucleus of Uranium-235 atoms are bombarded with slow-moving neutrons, the heavy uranium nucleus breaks up to produce two medium-weighted atoms, barium-139 and krypton-94, with the emission of three neutrons. A tremendous amount of energy is produced in this process.


Reaction:

$_{92}^{235} \mathrm{U}+_{0}^{1} \mathbf{n} \stackrel{\text { fission }}{\longrightarrow}\ _{56}^{139} \mathrm{Ba}+_{36}^{94} \mathrm{Kr}+3_{0}^{1} \mathrm{n}+ Tremendous\ amount\ of\ energy\ (210MeV)$


Image is posted for reference only.



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Updated on: 10-Oct-2022

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