Question

Statement-1: Energy is released when heavy nuclei undergo fission or light nuclei undergo fusion. Statement-2: For heavy nuclei, binding energy per nucleon increases with increasing Z while for light nuclei, it decreases with increasing Z.

• A. Statement-1 is true but statement-2 is false
• B. Statement-1 is false but statement-2 is true
• C. Statement-1 is true, statement-2 is true; statement-2 is the correct explanation for statement-1
• D. Statement-1 is true, statement-2 is true; statement-2 is not the correct explanation for statement-1

Answer 1

Answer: (A)

Statement-1 is true but statement-2 is false

Answer 2

Statement-1 is true because nuclear fission of heavy nuclei and fusion of light nuclei result in a more stable configuration, releasing energy. Statement-2 is false. For light nuclei, the binding energy per nucleon increases with increasing Z up to Iron. For heavy nuclei, it generally decreases with increasing Z.