Question

Two statements are given - one labelled Assertion (A) and the other labelled Reason (R).

Assertion (A): In the process of nuclear fission, the amount of nuclear energy generated by the fission of an atom of uranium is so tremendous that it produces 10 million times the energy produced by the combustion of an atom of carbon from coal.
Reason (R): The nucleus of a heavy atom such as uranium, when bombarded with low energy neutrons, splits apart into lighter nuclei. The mass difference between the original nucleus and the product nuclei gets converted to tremendous energy.

Options

• Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of the Assertion.

• Both A and R true but R is not the correct explanation of the Assertion.

• A is true but R is false.

• A is false but R is true.

Answer 1

When uranium-235 atoms are bombarded with slow-moving neutrons, the heavy uranium nucleus breaks up to produce two medium-weight atoms, barium-139 and krypton-94, with the emission of 3 neutrons.
The neutrons produced in a fission process cause further fission of the heavy nuclei leading to a self-sustaining chain reaction. When all the neutrons produced during the fission of uranium are allowed to cause further fission, then a large amount of energy is produced in a very short time that it cannot be controlled and this leads to an explosion called atom bomb. The energy thus generated by the fission of Uranium atom is 10 Million times the energy produced by the combustion of an atom of Carbon from Coal.

So, both Assertion and Reason are correct and Reason is the correct explanation of Assertion