Radioactive Decay
Radioactive decay is when radiocative atoms let go of energy and/or particles to become more stable
Doesn't usually involve the splitting of a nucleas
When an atom decays and is unstable because of a large group f nuetrons in it's nucleus
Fusion
Puts molecules together
Nuclear fusion powers active stars
Occures in stars, such as the sun
Very dense, high tempurature environment is required
The energy released by fusion is three or four times more than the energy release by fission
Fission
One class of nuclear weapon is a fission bomb, an atomic bomb
It doesn't tak a lot of energy to split two atoms in a fission reaction
Fission reaction doesn't usually happen in nature
The splitting of a big atom into two or more smaller ones
all require nuclear energy
Both the splitting or destroying of an atom
Fission is a type of radioactive decay
Involves the nucleas of an atom
Produces a huge amount of energy
both release energy
