Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Fission and Fusion Notes
Fission and Fusion Notes
Mrs. Hancock
May 2021
Forces
• What holds an atom together?
+ ENERGY
What nuclei can split during
nuclear fission?
• Only large nuclei
like U or plutonium
can split apart
during nuclear
fission.
What nuclei can split during
nuclear fission?
• U-236 is so
unstable that it
immediately splits
into barium &
krypton nuclei,
several neutrons &
a large amount of
energy
Fission
• http://www.atomicarchive.com/Movies/Mov
ie4.shtml
• http://holbert.faculty.asu.edu/eee460/fissio
n.html
• http://holbert.faculty.asu.edu/eee460/fusio
n.html
Fusion
• Why can’t we use the fusion reaction in
nuclear power plants?
- needs lots of energy
- need to overcome electrical forces
- difficult to control
- never been produced in a nuclear power
plant
Fusion
• Why would we want to use the fusion
reaction in a nuclear power plant?