Describe nuclear fission and write a nuclear equation to describe the fission of U-235?
Uranium-235 undergoes neutron-Induced fission to produce Xe-144 and Sr-90. Write a nuclear equation for the reaction. How many neutrons are produced?
92U235>>54Xe144 + 38Sr90+0n1
Nuclear fission is a nuclear reaction where the nucleus of an atom splits into two or more smaller nuclei, releasing a large amount of energy. In the case of U-235, it can be induced to undergo fission by absorbing a neutron.
The nuclear equation for the fission of U-235 is as follows:
U-235 + n → Xe-144 + Sr-90 + 2n
In this equation, U-235 represents the uranium-235 isotope, n represents a neutron, Xe-144 represents the xenon-144 isotope, Sr-90 represents the strontium-90 isotope, and 2n represents two neutrons.
During the fission process, the U-235 nucleus absorbs a neutron and becomes unstable, causing it to split into two smaller nuclei, which in this case are xenon-144 and strontium-90. Additionally, two neutrons are released as part of the reaction.
To determine the number of neutrons produced, you simply look at the coefficient in front of the neutron symbol. In this case, there is a coefficient of 2, indicating that two neutrons are produced during the fission of U-235.