Fission and Fusion

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Nuclear Fission

Fission occours when a nucleus splits inot two smlaler nuclei. We can make fission happen by firing slow moving neautrons at Uranium 235, Plutomiom 239, or Thorium 232 nuclei. We call this induced fission.In this process the nucleus ansprbs a neutron then splits to form two lighter nucleui, releases energy and any neautons left over (usually 2 or 3).

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Chain Reaction

In a reaction previously, two free neutrons could be relaesd, these can be absorbed by two heavy nuclie and cause a fission process. These nuclei would release more neutrons and cause further fissions and so on...

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Critical Mass

For a chain reaction to happen the mass of the fissioable material must be greater than a minimal critical value..The minimum value is known as the critical mass and is when the surface area to mass ratio is too small.

if the mass <  than the critical mass , more neutrons will escape then the amount being produced.

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