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    Boardworks Nuclear Fuels and Fission W8

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    Aamina Hassan
    Nuclear fission occurs when certain isotopes like uranium-235 absorb neutrons and split apart, releasing large amounts of energy. It is an uncontrolled reaction unlike natural radioactive decay. Uranium used in nuclear reactors is enriched to have 3% uranium-235, formed into rods that are placed in the reactor core. When uranium-235 undergoes fission, it splits into smaller nuclei called daughter nuclei along with neutrons. The mass of the daughter nuclei is slightly less than the original isotope, and the difference in mass is converted to a large amount of energy.

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    Boardworks Nuclear Fuels and Fission W8

    Uploaded by

    Aamina Hassan
    93 views9 pages
    Nuclear fission occurs when certain isotopes like uranium-235 absorb neutrons and split apart, releasing large amounts of energy. It is an uncontrolled reaction unlike natural radioactive decay. Uranium used in nuclear reactors is enriched to have 3% uranium-235, formed into rods that are placed in the reactor core. When uranium-235 undergoes fission, it splits into smaller nuclei called daughter nuclei along with neutrons. The mass of the daughter nuclei is slightly less than the original isotope, and the difference in mass is converted to a large amount of energy.

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    IGCSE Physics

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    Nuclear fission occurs when certain isotopes like uranium-235 absorb neutrons and split apart, releasing large amounts of energy. It is an uncontrolled reaction unlike natural radioactive decay. Uranium used in nuclear reactors is enriched to have 3% uranium-235, formed into rods that are placed in the reactor core. When uranium-235 undergoes fission, it splits into smaller nuclei called daughter nuclei along with neutrons. The mass of the daughter nuclei is slightly less than the original isotope, and the difference in mass is converted to a large amount of energy.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    93 views9 pages

    Boardworks Nuclear Fuels and Fission W8

    Uploaded by

    Aamina Hassan
    Nuclear fission occurs when certain isotopes like uranium-235 absorb neutrons and split apart, releasing large amounts of energy. It is an uncontrolled reaction unlike natural radioactive decay. Uranium used in nuclear reactors is enriched to have 3% uranium-235, formed into rods that are placed in the reactor core. When uranium-235 undergoes fission, it splits into smaller nuclei called daughter nuclei along with neutrons. The mass of the daughter nuclei is slightly less than the original isotope, and the difference in mass is converted to a large amount of energy.

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    You are on page 1of 9

    Nuclear Fuels and Fission

    1 of 9 © Boardworks Ltd 2015


    What is nuclear fission?
    Nuclear fission occurs when a stable isotope is struck by a
    neutron. The isotope absorbs the neutron, becomes unstable
    and then splits apart, releasing large amounts of energy.

    Unlike natural radioactive decay,


    fission is not a natural event.

    Isotopes that undergo fission include


    uranium-235 and plutonium-239.
    Most nuclear reactors use uranium-235.

    The fission of 1 kilogram of uranium-235


    releases more energy than burning
    2 million kilograms of coal!

    2 of 9 © Boardworks Ltd 2015


    How is uranium used in nuclear reactors?
    There are two major isotopes of uranium – 238 and 235.
    Uranium-238 is more common, but it does not undergo
    nuclear fission.
    Only 0.7% of naturally-occurring
    uranium is uranium-235, which
    does undergo nuclear fission.
    Before it can be used as the
    fuel in nuclear power stations,
    uranium needs to be enriched
    until it has 3% uranium-235.
    The enriched fuel is made
    into rods which are used in
    the reactor.

    3 of 9 © Boardworks Ltd 2015


    What happens in nuclear fission?

    4 of 9 © Boardworks Ltd 2015


    What are the products of fission?
    When fission of uranium-235 occurs, it splits into two smaller
    nuclei, known as daughter nuclei.
    Many possible daughter nuclei may be formed in a
    fission process. One example is shown below.

    fission

    +   + +

    uranium + neutron  uranium  strontium + xenon + neutrons


    235 236 90 144

    5 of 9 © Boardworks Ltd 2015


    Where does the energy come from?
    Barium and krypton are often the daughter nuclei formed by
    the fission of uranium-235. The decay equation for this is:

    235 1 90 143 1
    U + n  Kr + Ba + 30n
    92 0 36 56

    In this decay equation, the number of protons and the mass


    numbers on both sides of the equation balance.

    However, the particles after decay have slightly less mass


    than the particles before decay.

    The mass that has been lost has turned into energy.

    6 of 9 © Boardworks Ltd 2015


    How does nuclear power work?

    7 of 9 © Boardworks Ltd 2015


    Nuclear fission – true or false?

    8 of 9 © Boardworks Ltd 2015


    Want to see more?

    This is only a sample of one of thousands of


    Boardworks Science presentations.

    To see more of what Boardworks can offer, why not order a


    full presentation, completely free? Head to:
    www.boardworks.co.uk/sciencepresentation

    9 of 9 © Boardworks Ltd 2015

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