CERTAIN FEATURES OF SPONTANEOUS FISSION IN HEAVY NUCLEI

The relationship between spontaneous fission and alpha decay is discussed. A graph of the spontaneous fission half life against the alpha decay half life for a number of heavy nuclei reveals that for a definite range of spontaneous fission probabilities there corresponds a definite range of values for alpha decay. It is shown that the value of the ratio of the spontaneous fission half life to the alpha decay half life in nuclei with the same number of neutrons is a constant. It is also shown that, just as in alpha decay, where an increase of the atomic number of two units in nuclei with the same neutron number tends to reduce the half life, on the average by four orders of magnitude, an increase in the proton number in the nucleus of two or four units leads to a reduction in the spontsaneous fission half life by approximately four or eight orders of magnitude. 15 references. (J.S.R.)