Difference Between Fission and Fragmentation

The key difference between fission and fragmentation is that fission is the process of splitting an atomic nucleus into two or more smaller nuclei whereas fragmentation is the dissociation of unstable ions from molecules.

Fission is very important in nuclear physics as it concerns energy production using nuclear fission reactions since the split of an atomic nucleus can result in a very large amount of energy. Fragmentation, on the other hand, is very important in mass spectrometry as we use this process to examine different molecules.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Fission 
3. What is Fragmentation
4. Side by Side Comparison – Fission vs Fragmentation in Tabular Form
5. Summary

What is Fission?

Fission in nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry is a process in which an atomic nucleus split into two or more nuclei. We call this a nuclear reaction or more commonly as radioactive decay. Often, this process produces free neutrons along with gamma rays. Moreover, this reaction produces high energy that can be used for different purposes. Apart from free neutrons and gamma rays, this also produces some other fragments such as alpha and beta particles.

Furthermore, fission is mostly an exothermic reaction that releases nuclear energy as the kinetic energy of the produced fragments. Since the products of the nuclear reaction are very different from the elements of the original atom, it is a nuclear transmutation process.

What is Fragmentation?

Fragmentation in chemistry is the dissociation of ions from a molecule. Here, energetically unstable ions may depart the molecule. Furthermore, this occurs inside the ionization chamber of the mass spectrometer. The resulting products are called fragments. Moreover, these fragments can create a certain pattern – the mass spectrum. And, this mass spectrum is unique for a certain molecule, thus, it is useful in identification. Also, the fragmentation patterns are useful in determining the molecular weight and even the structure of a molecule.

There are several common reactions involved in fragmentation during mass spectrometry;

1. Simple bond cleavage reactions
2. Radical site-initiated fragmentation
3. Charge-site initiated fragmentation
4. Rearrangement reactions

What is the Difference Between Fission and Fragmentation?

Fission in nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry is a process in which an atomic nucleus split into two or more nuclei while fragmentation in chemistry is the dissociation of ions from a molecule. Thus, the key difference between fission and fragmentation is that fission is the process of splitting an atomic nucleus into two or more smaller nuclei whereas fragmentation is the dissociation of unstable ions from molecules.

Another significant difference between fission and fragmentation is that fission is important for the production of nuclear power while fragmentation is useful for mass spectrometry – for the identification of structure and molar weight of a molecule.

Summary – Fission vs Fragmentation

Fission in nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry is a process in which an atomic nucleus split into two or more nuclei. while fragmentation in chemistry is the process of dissociation of ions from a molecule. The key difference between fission and fragmentation is that fission is the process of splitting an atomic nucleus into two or more smaller nuclei whereas fragmentation is the process of dissociation of unstable ions from molecules.

Reference:

1. “Nuclear Fission.” ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, Available here.
2. “Fragmentation (Mass Spectrometry).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Apr. 2019, Available here.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Nuclear fission” By Created by Fastfission in Illustrator. The source code of this SVG is valid. Additionally, this vector image was created with a text editor. – Own work (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Heterolysis (Chemistry)” By Jürgen Martens – Jürgen Martens (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia