What is Photodisintegration?
Photodisintegration is a physical process that occurs when gamma rays with massive energies strike an atomic nucleus and split it apart. Out of the entire electromagnetic spectrum, gamma rays are the most energetic, and also have the shortest wavelength, the size of an atomic nucleus or less. Photodisintegration causes nuclear fission, the breakage of atomic nuclei. This is the same mechanism that causes chain reactions in nuclear reactors and nuclear bombs. For elements lighter than iron, the reaction consumes energy, and for elements heavier, it releases it. Elements lighter than iron require more energy to break apart than is released from that breakage. Energy generated by photodisintegration derives from the strong nuclear force which holds the particles in the atomic nucleus together. The process of photodisintegration is a major factor in supernovae involving stars with 250 or greater solar masses, like the primordial Population III stars which were the first to light up the uni
