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The term nuclear reaction is a general one, and it refers to any change in atomic nuclei. There are a lot of different ones (nuclear changes) that qualify, so let's look at some.

A nuclear reaction could be a nuclear decay event where a single atomic nucleus undergoes a change. Alpha decay, beta decay, spontaneous fission and even gamma emission are nuclear reactions. Additionally, a nuclear reaction could refer to the interaction of a subatomic particle and an atomic nucleus, like neutron capture in nuclear chain reactions. Further, nuclear fusion, which is constantly going on in our sun, is also considered a nuclear reaction because lighter atomic nuclei are fused together to make heavier ones.

As there are a number of "flavors" of nuclear reactions, we leave a reader a variety of options to choose from when we apply this term. It may help to be more specific, depending on the way this term is used.

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15y ago

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