What is spontaneous fission?

Answer 1

Spontaneous fission is a naturally occurring nuclear decay event that a few different elements undergo. Uranium and plutonium, which are radioactive, are the most well known of the fissionable elements, and they can do this in nature. The nucleus of the atoms of these elements are naturally unstable, and they can just "split" by themselves. The instability is a characteristic of these and some other elements, and this is because these large nuclei are so massive that their nuclear binding energy cannot hold them together indefinitely. Note that spontaneous fission is just one possibility as regards the decay of these heavy nuclei.

In spontaneous fission, the unstable nucleus just falls or breaks apart by itself. The nucleus splits in two parts of approximately the same size, and these are the fission fragments from the decay event. One or more neutrons will be released at this time, too. The fission fragments recoil with a great deal of kinetic energy. Further, it is spontaneous fission that begins all nuclear chain reactions in nuclear weapons and in nuclear reactors. A link can be found below for more information.