Can you help me with a science question?

Question

During nuclei fission, large nuclei with high masses are split into two nuclei with smaller masses. During nuclear fission, two nuclei with low masses are combined to form one nucleus of larger mass. How are the two processes similar? ( i hate "think critically" questions)

Answer 1

They are the only way to turn mass into energy.

Answer 2

They are similar because they both involve the nuclei and they both release energy.
Now, here is a better approach to "think critically" questions. The reason they seem hard to students is because they force you to "tie it all together". They want you to take what you know and connect it. Sometimes students have a hard time doing this because they are thinking about all the tiny little facts. Try to stand back and see the whole picture. Think of this knowledge about nuclei like a dot-to dot- picture. Each fact is like a numbered dot. You don't see the whole picture til you connect all the dots in order. Good luck!!

Answer 3

I think you meant to say "During nuclear [fusion], two nuclei with low masses are combined to form one nucleus of larger mass."

Both fission and fusion are similar in one very important way...the sum total of their masses is less after the fission or fusion than before. That is, if M0 = mass before and M1 = mass after, M1 < M0 always, no matter if it's fusion or fission.

So, where did that change in mass = delM = M0 - M1 go? E = delM c^2; that's where it went...into energy. This is why we get nuclear energy from both fission and fusion.