Practice portal › Nuclei › Nuclear Reactions, Fission and Fusion
Asked in CBSE AIPMT 2000 · Reactors and conditions for fission and fusion
Bohr and Wheeler explained fission by treating the nucleus as a drop of incompressible liquid.
Surface tension keeps the drop spherical, much as it does a droplet of water.
Absorbing a neutron adds excitation energy, which sets the drop oscillating and deforms it first into an ellipsoid and then into a dumb-bell.
Once the two lobes are far enough apart, the Coulomb repulsion between their protons beats the surface tension and the drop tears in two.
So fission is explained by the liquid drop model of the nucleus.
Reading this solution needs no sign-in. You only sign in to practise against the clock and keep your progress.
Practise this with a timer