section_path: Neutrons in an atomic nucleus/Nuclear energy
section_name: Nuclear energy
paragraph_text: Nuclear energy
  
  Because of the strength of the nuclear force at short distances, the nuclear energy binding nucleons is many orders of magnitude greater than the electromagnetic energy binding electrons in atoms. In nuclear fission, the absorption of a neutron by some heavy nuclides (such as uranium-235) can cause the nuclide to become unstable and break into lighter nuclides and additional neutrons. The positively charged light nuclides, or "fission fragments", then repel, releasing electromagnetic potential energy. If this reaction occurs within a mass of fissile material, the additional neutrons cause additional fission events, inducing a cascade known as a nuclear chain reaction. For a given mass of fissile material, such nuclear reactions release energy that is approximately ten million times that from an equivalent mass of a conventional chemical explosive. Ultimately, the ability of the nuclear force to store energy arising from the electromagnetic repulsion of nuclear components is the basis for most of the energy that makes nuclear reactors or bombs possible; most of the energy released from fission is the kinetic energy of the fission fragments.