nuclear fusion
Summary Nuclear reactions are accompanied by large changes in energy, which result in detectable changes in mass. The change in mass is related to the change in energy according to Einsteins equation: E = m c2. Large changes in energy are usually reported in kiloelectronvolts or megaelectronvolts thousands or millions of electronvolts . With the exception of 1H, the experimentally determined mass of an atom is always less than the sum of the masses of the component particles protons, neutrons, and electrons by an amount called the mass defect of the nucleus. The energy corresponding to the mass defect is the nuclear binding energy, the amount of energy released when a nucleus forms from its component particles. In nuclear fission, nuclei split into lighter nuclei with an accompanying release of multiple neutrons and large amounts of energy. Thecritical mass is the minimum mass required to support a self-sustainingnuclear chain reaction. Nuclear fusion is a process in which two light nuclei combine to produce a heavier nucleus plus a great deal of energy.