The mass and kinetic energy distributions in the fission of 237Np, 232Th, 238U, 235U and 209Bi induced by 110 MeV electrons

Fission of ²³²Th, ²³⁷Np, ²⁰⁹Bi, ²³⁵U and ²³⁸U induced by 110 MeV electrons has been studied by means of surface barrier detectors. The resulting mass and kinetic energy distributions are presented. Comparison with the liquid drop model predictions shows reasonable agreement in the case of ²⁰⁹Bi. The data are analysed in terms of a two component model of fission and the mean total kinetic energies of the components are shown to depend linearly on $\text{Z}{}_1\text{Z}{}_2\text{(A}{}_1{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>3</mtext>}}\text{+ A}{}_2{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>3</mtext>}}\text{)}$. Interesting differences are found when the present results are compared with the recent photofission experiments of Areskoug et al. and features in both sets of data correlate with changes of fragment deformation implied by the calculations of Wilkins et al.