uranium 235

Definition of uranium 235

: a light isotope of uranium of mass number 235 that constitutes less than one percent of natural uranium, that when bombarded with slow neutrons undergoes rapid fission into smaller atoms with the release of neutrons and energy, and that is used in nuclear reactors and atomic bombs

Examples of uranium 235 in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Increasing the proportion of uranium 235 is known as enrichment. — BostonGlobe.com, "Most read on BostonGlobe.com," 5 Nov. 2019 Increasing the proportion of uranium 235 is known as enrichment. — David E. Sanger, New York Times, "Iran Adds Advanced Centrifuges, Further Weakening Nuclear Deal," 4 Nov. 2019 Anyone can see that fissioning uranium 235 or plutonium can be used to generate electricity. — Scientific American, "Readers Respond to the January 2018 Issue," 1 Jan. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'uranium 235.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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uranium dioxide

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Last Updated

18 Nov 2019

Time Traveler for uranium 235

The first known use of uranium 235 was in 1940

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