Nuclear fission is a process in nuclear physics in which the nucleus of an atom splits into two or more smaller nuclei as fission products, and usually some by-product particles.

Hence, fission is a form of elemental transmutation.

The by-products include free neutrons, photons usually in the form gamma rays, and other nuclear fragments such as beta particles and alpha particles.

Fission of heavy elements is an exothermic reaction and can release substantial amounts of useful energy both as gamma rays and as kinetic energy of the fragments (heating the bulk material where fission takes place).

Nuclear fission produces energy for nuclear power and to drive explosion of nuclear weapons.

For more information about the topic Nuclear fission, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:

Nuclear reaction — In nuclear physics, a nuclear reaction is a process in which two nuclei or nuclear particles collide, to produce different products than the initial ...  > read more

Radioactive decay — Radioactive decay is the set of various processes by which unstable atomic nuclei (nuclides) emit subatomic particles (radiation). Decay is said to ...  > read more

Isotope — Isotopes are forms of an element whose nuclei have the same atomic number–-the number of protons in the nucleus--but different mass numbers ...  > read more

Nuclear power plant — A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is one or more nuclear reactors. Nuclear power plants are base load ...  > read more

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