Question

What is nuclear fission ? Explain with an example. Write the equation of the nuclear reaction involved.

Answer 1

The process in which the heavy nucleus of a radioactive atom(such as uranium) splits up into smaller nuclei when bombarded with low energy neutrons, is called nuclear fission.
E.g., When uranium-235 atoms are bombarded with slow moving neutrons, the heavy uranium nucleus breaks up to produce two medium-weighted atoms and 3 neutrons, with the emission of tremendous amount of energy.