All elements have proton particles in the nucleus, and electrons, which are much smaller particles, outside. All elements apart from hydrogen contain particles known as neutrons in the nucleus, which have roughly the same mass as protons. These particles use electrical charge and other forces to stick together as an atom, unless energy is introduced from another source, in which case the atoms can break up, in the case of nuclear fission, or join together, in the case of nuclear fusion.
When an atom changes itself during a nuclear reaction, it releases the energy that it previously used to hold the particles together or keep them apart. Both fission and fusion are processes that aim to produce energy, which power plants can then turn into electrical energy to power homes and businesses.
It is the energy the atom releases as it changes into a different form that power plants harvest. As of May , the energy efficiency of fusion reactions, which need a large amount of initial energy to start the reaction, is not sufficient to make it a viable energy-production option.
If a nuclear reaction produces nuclei that are more tightly bound than the originals, then the excess energy will be released. Thus, if you split a nucleus that is much larger than iron into smaller fragments, you will release energy because the smaller fragments are at a lower energy than the original nucleus. If instead you fuse very light nuclei to get bigger products, energy is again released because the nucleons in the products are more tightly bound than in the original nuclei.
How are fusion and fission similar? Chemistry Nuclear Chemistry Fission and Fusion. Ernest Z. Along with this, an enormous amount of energy is released, which is several times the amount produced from fission. Scientists continue to work on controlling nuclear fusion in an effort to make a fusion reactor to produce electricity. Some scientists believe there are opportunities with such a power source since fusion creates less radioactive material than fission and has a nearly unlimited fuel supply.
However, progress is slow due to challenges with understanding how to control the reaction in a contained space. Both fission and fusion are nuclear reactions that produce energy, but the applications are not the same.
Fission is the splitting of a heavy, unstable nucleus into two lighter nuclei, and fusion is the process where two light nuclei combine together releasing vast amounts of energy. Fission is used in nuclear power reactors since it can be controlled, while fusion is not utilized to produce power since the reaction is not easily controlled and is expensive to create the needed conditions for a fusion reaction. Fission reaction does not normally occur in nature Fission produces many highly radioactive particles The energy released by fission is a million times greater than that released in chemical reactions; but lower than the energy released by nuclear fusion One class of nuclear weapon is a fission bomb, also known as an atomic bomb or atom bomb.
Nuclear fission is the splitting of a massive nucleus into photons in the form of gamma rays, free neutrons, and other subatomic particles. In a typical nuclear reaction involving U and a neutron:. The energy released by fusion is three to four times greater than the energy released by fission.
Extremely high energy is required to bring two or more protons close enough that nuclear forces overcome their electrostatic repulsion. Nuclear fusion is the reaction in which two or more nuclei combine together to form a new element with higher atomic number more protons in the nucleus.
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