Why Don't Light Nuclei Undergo Spontaneous Fission?

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SUMMARY

Light nuclei, such as helium-4 (4He) and beryllium-8 (8Be), do not typically undergo spontaneous fission due to their insufficient nuclear radius, which prevents Coulomb repulsion from overcoming nuclear attraction. The critical factor is that a nucleus must be large enough for perturbations to trigger fission. While most light nuclei remain stable, 8Be is an exception, demonstrating that certain light nuclei can indeed undergo this process under specific conditions.

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EDerkatch
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Could someone please explain why relatively light nuclei do not undergo spontaneous fission? Thanks.
 
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The radius of the nucleus has to be large enough so that a slight perturbation will make the
Coulomb repulsion overcome the nuclear attraction.
 
EDerkatch said:
Could someone please explain why relatively light nuclei do not undergo spontaneous fission?

But some do. 8Be, for example.
 

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