Nuclear Fission: a Detailed Analysis of the Discovery and Applications

Nuclear Fission: a Detailed Analysis of the Discovery and Applications

Nuclear Fission, “a nuclear reaction in which a heavy nucleus splits spontaneously or on impact with another particle, with the release of energy.” as defined by the dictionary. Nuclear Fission played a large role in World War II. After the U.S was antagonized by the Japanese, the US began to implement Nuclear Fission into weaponry. These weapons of mass destruction were a new milestone in wars. It shocked the world and quickly ended the war. The atomic bomb ended the war swiftly and resulted in less deaths for the Allies. It also may have helped accelerate the ending of the war and prevented it from dragging on any longer. After the war, however, many other practical applications of nuclear fission have been used to better society.

Nuclear Fission was a great discovery and caused a turning point in the war. It all began with the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, New Mexico. This is where the scientists from the United States and some of the other allied countries began work on the Atomic Bomb. The atomic bomb uses a nuclear fission to provide its explosive properties. Nuclear Fission can be described as either a nuclear reaction or a radioactive decay process. In this process the nucleus of a particle splits into smaller parts known as lighter nuclei. This fission process often produces extra neutrons and photons which are emitted in the form of gamma rays. These gamma rays release a very large amount of energy which are along the lines of energetic standards that define radioactive decay. (Bohr). This whole idea of “Nuclear Fission” began with the Neils Bohr and John A. Wheeler. They examined this concept in “The Mechanism of Nuclear Fission”; in wh...

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...r its discovery by Bohr in 1939. These weapons of

Mass destruction marked a new chapter in warfare and added a new factor of fear when entering war. The atomic bomb ended the war swiftly and resulted in less deaths for the Allies. Other

than the war aspects of Nuclear Fission, it has a lot of applications in energy. Nuclear Power Plants for example, were just one of the ways that Nuclear Fission was being used to better society. Brian and Lamb put a good perspective on Nuclear Power Plants, “The nuclear power plant stands on the border between humanity's greatest hopes and its deepest fears for the future.” (Brian and Lamb). The fission process has also been observed on earth billions of years ago. Altogether, nuclear fission has made a great impact on the world and has had many other practical applications that have been used to better society as a whole.