Practice question

**Nuclear fission** splitting heavy nucleus like U-235 into intermediate mass fragments Ba and Kr plus neutrons, releases ~200 MeV per fission because product BE/A higher, mass defect converted to energy, controlled in reactors, uncontrolled in bombs. Fusion combining light nuclei D+T→He+n releases ~17.6 MeV, requires high temperature to overcome Coulomb barrier to bring nuclei close for strong force to act. Nuclear fission is the process where a heavy nucleus splits into two intermediate mass fragments, releasing energy due to the higher binding energy per nucleon in the resulting nuclei. Using E_n = -13.6/n² eV, r_n = n² a₀, L = n h/2π, R = R₀