A key characteristic of nuclear fission is that the total mass of the products is:
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Explanation
The correct answer is option 3 i.e. Less than the mass of the reactants.
The Principle of Nuclear Fission
In a nuclear fission reaction, a heavy nucleus (like Uranium-235) splits into smaller nuclei after capturing a neutron. A fundamental characteristic of this process is that the sum of the masses of the resulting fragments and neutrons is slightly less than the original mass of the reacting nucleus and the incident neutron.
This "missing mass," known as the mass defect, is not actually lost but is converted into a tremendous amount of energy. This conversion is governed by Albert Einstein’s famous mass-energy equivalence equation:
E = mc2
In this equation, E represents the energy released, m is the difference in mass, and c is the speed of light. Because the value of c is so large, even a tiny reduction in mass results in the release of massive energy.