Fission is the process of splitting something into two or more parts. In science, it most often means splitting an atomic nucleus, which releases a lot of energy.
“Fission” comes from Latin “fissio,” meaning “a cleaving or splitting,” from “findere,” to split. It entered English through scientific Latin as physics and biology expanded in the 18th–19th centuries.
Fission is the opposite of “fusion,” and the two words are easy to mix up even though their effects are huge and different. Nuclear power plants mostly use fission, while the sun shines because of fusion.
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