fission and fuse

[sexycuteall]

How can we datermine which atoms are likely to fission and which atoms are likely to fuse?

[jake-the-peg]

There's a couple of levels to this

If we're talking about it on a simple level - light elements are likely to be fuseable, heavy ones are likely to fision or split.

If this is a school homework question the above is likely to be all you need.

On a slightly deeper level have you ever wondered why if the nucleus has positive protons and neutral neutrons it doesn't just fly apart?

This is because of the so called "Strong" force which is a lot stonger than the electromagnetic force pulling it apart. This strong force acts between the protons and neutrons holding it together. The bigger the nucleus gets the harder it is for this to hold the whole thing together which is why none of the elements heavier than Uranium are naturally occuring.

This ability to hold itself together is known as the binding energy -

Have a look here
http://www.euronuclear.org/info/encyclopedia/b indingenergy.htm

Note for the lighter elements Deuterium and tritium have a lower binding energy than Helium so