fission

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“
In fact MOST species on the planet use binary fission, which is asexual.

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Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. noun The act or process of splitting into parts.
  2. noun A nuclear reaction in which an atomic nucleus, especially a heavy nucleus such as an isotope of uranium, splits into fragments, usually two fragments of comparable mass, releasing from 100 million to several hundred million electron volts of energy.
  3. noun Biology An asexual reproductive process in which a unicellular organism divides into two or more independently maturing daughter cells.
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Examples (50)

  • Certainly we would go astray if we then concluded that, say, something like nuclear fission is the way solar systems break up. —  F ;SF - vol 090 issue 03 - March 1996
  • Or we could have developed thorium breeder fission, and maybe less exotic, cheap solar cells, if fusion turned out to have unexpected difficulties. —  F ;SF - vol 088 issue 01 - January 1995
  • Through a mingling of magic and science and will he had triggered a sort of spiritual fission, all the particulars of his flesh and mind exploding into an immense, radiant cloud that did not dissipate in the way of a mushroom cloud, but maintained its integrity at the moment of peak fury, sustained by a surface tension that might have been the residue of the spell he had caused to be pronounced. —  F ;SF; - vol 100 issue 03 - March 2001
  • Nuclear fission is the sweet-spot where global warming concerns meet the demands of the modern economy. —  Forbes.com: News
  • The isotope needed to conduct fission -- the process that creates the heat necessary to produce power -- is uranium-235 (U-235) and makes up 0.7 percent of naturally occurring uranium. —  Spero News
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin fissiō, fissiōn-, a cleaving, from fissus, split; see fissi-.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Latin fissio(n-), a cleaving, from fissus, past participle of findere, cleave: see fissile, fissure.
 

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/fɪʃən/
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