Grades 6, 7 and 8 - Science - Middle School - Chemistry - Nuclear Fusion versus Nuclear Fission — Flashcards

Nuclear or more specifically nuclear energy can be broken down into two separate areas, i.e., nuclear fusion and nuclear fission.

Both of these involve the extraction of energy by manipulating the nucleus of an atom. However, fusion is the joining together two or more atoms to make one large atom and fission is splitting one atom apart into two or more smaller atoms. In fact, fusion means a merging of separate elements into a unified whole while fission means a splitting or breaking up into parts.

Nuclear fission was first discovered by Otto Hahn and his assistant Fritz Strassmann. Fission does not naturally take place in nature. It is created by man through the process of aiming a neutron at the nucleus of an unstable atom. A neutron is a subatomic hadron particle that has no electrical charge.
In 1929, Robert d’Escourt Atkinson and Friedrich Houtermans discovered nuclear fusion by following Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. Fusion can either be created by man or it has a natural occurrence. An example of a natural fusion would be the energy that powers the Sun. This occurs when hydrogen and helium in the Sun collide together and in turn it affects the source of all weather related events.

When fission occurs, tiny radioactive particles are dispersed into the air. Radioactive particles are also known as nuclear decay which can be extremely harmful to man, animals and plants. With nuclear fusion, there are no radioactive particles involved.

The amount of energy that is released by fission is a million times greater than the energy that is released in chemical reactions. However, even with the amount of energy it releases, it is lower than the energy that is released by nuclear fusion.

The atomic bomb is the result of nuclear fission. The hydrogen bomb is the result of nuclear fusion. However, in the hydrogen bomb, in order to first trigger the bomb, a nuclear fission must first occur which is why the hydrogen bomb is even more powerful than the atomic bomb.

If you have heard of a nuclear energy plant, the type of nuclear that is being used is fission, with uranium being the primary fuel used. This is why many people are opposed to nuclear plants because should there be an explosion, radioactive particles will be dispersed into the air, potentially killing everything with a radius of the plant.

Hydrogen isotopes (deuterium and tritium) are the primary fuels used in fusion plants. However, more testing is needed as using energy from the results of nuclear fusion is harder to maintain than fission.