Fission Astronomy Cast

Fission is essentially the opposite of fusion, in which heavy unstable atoms decay either rapidly or over long periods of time. Carbon 14 is one of the most commonly known isotopes that undergoes fission. It has a half life of about 5,700 years, meaning that it decays to half of its original mass in 5,700 years. The other common kind of process is the rapid process. This process is most widely recognized in bombs. When very heavy, unstable elements rapidly undergo fission they release massive amounts of energy. However, the slow process is the more common form of this as it requires more stable elements, which are more common in nature. Another interesting fact about this process is the idea of a chain reaction. Each time an element undergoes fission it releases neutrons. These neutrons then go on to induce other elements to fission, which then release more neutrons. When there is a certain amount of mass the process becomes self propagating and it is said to have reached critical mass. Fission can also be used to determine the age of stars by determining the half life of a certain element is and figuring out what percentage of it remains. Overall, fission is very important in the universe and has many practical purposes on Earth as well.