Answer:
the conversion of matter into energy
Explanation:
A nuclear reaction is a reaction in which there is a change in the nuclei of the atoms involved. The two most important examples of nuclear reactions are:
- Nuclear fission: it occurs when a heavy, unstable nucleus breaks apart into two or more lighter nuclei
- Nuclear fusion: it occurs when two lighter nuclei fuse together into a heavier nucleus
In both cases, the total mass of the final products is smaller than the total mass of the initial nuclei: this means that part of the mass of the initial nuclei has been converted into energy, according to Einstein's formula:
where is the variation of mass and c is the speed of light. Since the value of c is very large, we can see from the formula that even a small amount of
is able to produce a huge amount of energy, and this is a typical feature of any nuclear reaction.