Discuss the process of nuclear fission

Explanation

(i) The process of breaking up of the nucleus of a heavier atom into two smaller nuclei with the release of a large amount of energy is called nuclear fission.
(ii) The fission is accompanied by the release of neutrons. The energy that is released in the nuclear fission is of many orders of magnitude greater than the energy released in chemcial reactions.
(iii) Uranium undergoes fission reaction in 90 different ways. The most common fission reactions of `""_(92)^(235)U` nuclei are shown here.
`""_(92)^(235)U+""_(0)^(1)nto""_(92)^(236)Uto""_(56)^(141)Ba+""_(36)^(92)Kr+3""_(0)^(1)n+Q`
`""_(92)^(235)U+""_(0)^(1)nto""_(92)^(236)Uto""_(54)^(140)Xe+""_(38)^(94)Sr+2""_(0)^(1)n+Q`
(iv) Here Q is energy released during the decay of each uranium nuclei. When the slow neutron is absobed by the uranium nuclei, the mass number increases by one and goes to an excited state `""_(92)^(235)U`.
(v) But this excited state does not last longer than `10^(-12)s` and decay into two daughter nuclei along with 2 or 3 neutrons. From each reaction, on an average, 2.5 neutrons are emitted.