Given below is the nuclear fission reaction of a Uranium-235 nucleus to produce fast-moving lighter elements.Īs you can clearly see, nuclear fission is the exact opposite of nuclear fusion.
#FISSION MEANING IN CHEMISTRY FREE#
Nuclear fission is a process in which the nucleus of an atom splits into smaller subatomic particles like free neutrons, gamma particles and a lot of energy. That’s why they have been glowing since ages without ever blacking out! Nuclear Fission
Our sun, and all other stars in the entire galaxy are powered by nuclear fusion reactions. (Yes, the same tritium for which Doc Octopus created such a fuss in Spiderman 2 and gave our beloved Spiderman a hard time!) Given below is the Deuterium-Tritium fusion reaction: The most likely fusion reaction here on Earth occurs between the two isotopes of Hydrogen, namely Deuterium and Tritium. Such a combination of two or more nuclei to form a new, heavy nucleus releases an enormous amount of energy, which is closely associated with a most popular Energy Mass equivalence formula: During fusion, matter is not conserved this is because some of the matter is converted to energy (in photons). Nuclear fusion occurs when two or more nuclei join to form a new element with a heavier nucleus, or in technical terms, an element with a higher atomic number. In fact, every element in the periodic table having an atomic number greater than 92 is a ‘heavy element’. Needless to say, an atom with more electrons has a high atomic number, and therefore is said to be ‘heavy’. Within the nucleus there are two primary constituents, namely protons and neutrons.Ītomic number is the measure of the number of protons in an atom if an element has only 1 proton (Hydrogen) inside the nucleus, then it has an atomic number of 1, or two protons, then it’s atomic number is 2 (Helium) and so on. Electrons revolve around the nucleus in different energy levels. Whatever little space inside an atom is actually ‘used’, is occupied by something known as the ‘nucleus’ of the atom. This is the basis behind a very popular hypothesis that claims that the entire human race can fit inside a single sugar cube! (More about it here). Consider this, a human body weighing 70 kilograms (154 pounds) contains about 7*10^27 atoms, or the number you get after putting 27 zeroes after the digit 7!īut it so happens that a atom has a large amount lot of empty space within it in other words, an atom is mostly empty. You must already know that atom is the building block of all matter everything that we see around us is made up of atoms, a lot of them. The answers to these questions seem pretty basic now, but back in school…įor starters, if you did a quick Google search for the meaning of the word ‘fusion’, this would come up: ‘the process or result of joining two or more things together to form a single entity.’ This definition of the word ‘fusion’ applies very conclusively to the term ‘nuclear fusion’, only here it pertains to atoms’ nuclei.īut before we go further in nuclei-related nitty-gritty, let’s do a quick recap of a couple of basic concepts related to atoms and nuclei, which you’ll be reading a lot about in the subsequent sections.Ī little something about Atoms, Nuclei and Atomic numbers Atom bombs… they use nuclear fission, right? Or is it fusion? Or maybe both? And how about Hydrogen bombs? This question confounded me and most of my friends back when we were in school, preparing to appear in the Physics test. A little something about Atoms, Nuclei and Atomic numbers.
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