Physics - Modern Physics Question with Solution | TestHub

When a heavy nucleus splits into two medium-sized ones, each of the new nuclei will have more binding energy per nucleon than the original nucleus. The extra energy will be given off. $e.g$. if the uranium nucleus ${}_{92}^{235}\mathrm{U}$ is broken into two small nuclei, the binding energy difference per nucleon is about $0.8\mathrm{MeV}$. The total energy given off is therefore $$\frac{0.8\mathrm{MeV}}{\text{ nucleon }}\times 235\text{ nucleon }=188\mathrm{MeV}$$