What is the angle at which the two nuclei fly apart if a nucleus at rest is all of a sudden splits into two small nuclei?
Let M = mass of nucleus at rest Momentum of the nucleus before disintegration = M x 0 = 0 Let m1 and m2 be the mass of the two smaller nuclei and v1 and v2 be their velocities Momentum of the nucleus after disintegration = m1v1 + m2v2 According to the law of conservation of linear momentum m1v1 + m2v2 = 0 m1v1 = - m2v2 The negative sign shows that the velocities v1 and v2 must be opposite sign; the two products must be emitted in opposite direction. Thus the angle between two nuclei is 1800