Question

What is nuclear fusion? Give one example and write its nuclear reaction.

Answer 1

Nuclear fusion is the process in which two light nuclei combine to form a heavy nucleus. In this process also, huge amount of energy is released.

When two deuterium nuclei \[\ce{^2_1H}\] fuse, 3·3 MeV energy is released and the nucleus of helium isotope \[\ce{^3_2He}\] is formed. This helium isotope again gets fused with one deuterium nucleus to form a helium nucleus \[\ce{^4_2He}\] and 18·3 MeV energy is released in this process. The nuclear reactions are:

\[\ce{\underset{(deuterium)}{^2_1H} +\underset{(deuterium)}{^2_1H} ->\underset{(helium isotope)}{^3_2He} +\underset{neutron}{^1_0n}+3.3MeV}\]