Explain why nuclear fission and nuclear fusion release large amounts of energy

Because the factor is huge

Explanation:

- The process of nuclear fission occurs when a heavy, unstable nucleus break apart into two or more lighter, more stable nuclei

- The process of nuclear fusion occurs when two (or more) light nuclei fuse together into a heavier nucleus

In both processes, the total mass of the final products of the process is smaller than the total mass of the initial nuclei in the process.

Therefore, this means that part of the initial mass of the nuclei has converted into energy, according to Einsten's equivalence:

where

E is the energy released in the process

is the  mass defect, which is the difference between the final total mass and the initial total mass

is the speed of light

Since the factor is a huge number, we can see that even if the mass defect is tiny, these processes result in a huge amount of energy released.

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