The first splitting of an atom by John Douglas Cockroft and Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton in 1932 was a momentous occasion in physics. The two researchers found that the two helium atoms produced when a proton collides with a lithium nucleus have more...

When a neutron strikes the nucleus of certain isotopes, the nucleus breaks apart into two roughly equal parts in a process known as nuclear fission. The two parts into which the nucleus splits are called fission products. In addition to fission...

The splitting of the nucleus of an atom with accompanying release of energy. It is the principle under which NUCLEAR REACTORS generate power. See also: NUCLEAR FUSION;...

Nuclear fission is a process in which a heavy nucleus—usually one with a nucleon number of two hundred or more—separates into two nuclei. Usually the division liberates neutrons and electromagnetic radiation and releases a substantial...

Nuclear fission is the splitting of the nucleus of an atom into parts (lighter nuclei) often producing photons (in the form of gamma rays), free neutrons and other subatomic particles as by-products. Fission of heavy elements is an exothermic reaction...

It has been widely speculated that there is a debate within the administration of US President George Bush regarding policy toward North Korea. At one end are the Pentagon hawks who prefer some form of regime change as the most ideal, effective, and...

Jules Verne thought you could get to the center of the Earth through the chimney of an extinct Icelandic volcano. At the bottom, he envisioned a vast inland sea -- really inland, as in 4,000 miles down -- and a bunch of dinosaurs. ...

When Paul Tibbets enlisted in the Army Air Corps, nuclear fission had not even been discovered, but it would fall upon him to unleash its staggering power in war for the first time.If dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, weighed heavily on the pilot...

When studying physics, Enrico Fermi was in his element.So much so, he has an element named after him.That would be fermium, the 100th element, called that in his honor by admiring colleagues.He is the namesake of the Fermi Institute on the campus of the University...