![]() ![]() Subscribe to BBC Focus magazine for fascinating new Q&As every month and follow on Twitter for your daily dose of fun science facts. Today’s nuclear power plants rely on nuclear fission, which releases energy when large. Why does the fusion of hydrogen in stars release energy? Though nuclear fusion and nuclear fission both draw energy from the atom, they operate differently. The Differences Between Nuclear Fission and Fusion Setting the record straight on how these two similar sounding energy sources truly differ.Again, the lower mass of the fusion products is turned into energy via Einstein’s famous equation, but over 10 times the amount produced by fission for each gram of ‘fuel’. Similarly, when a source of energy (light) splits into quanta or photons, this is referred to as the nuclear fission process. In fact its pretty crazy neutronic, with far higher energies. ![]() In contrast, fusion involves ramming together nuclei of light elements like hydrogen so violently they fuse together, producing fresh nuclei plus neutrons. Fission is far better characterised in the science, if not the engineering (fully). Fission weapons are commonly referred to as atomic bombs. The difference appears as energy – courtesy of E=mc² – which is carried away by fast-moving neutrons. nuclear weapon, device designed to release energy in an explosive manner as a result of nuclear fission, nuclear fusion, or a combination of the two processes. While both fission and fusion release energy, the process and amount is very different.įission exploits the instability of nuclei of heavy elements like uranium, which can be split using neutrons, producing fragments with a lower total mass. Fusion, as its name suggests, involves fusing nuclei and is the power source of the stars. Both fission breeders and fusion re actors are, in terms of fuel supply, potential providers of very large. Nuclear fission involves splitting atomic nuclei, and is the process used in nuclear power stations. 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. quired to convert the nuclear energy to electricity. Why do both fission and fusion release energy?
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