# Rate of Nuclear Decay **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 12, 2016, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-of-nuclear-decay/774522 "2016-12-12T15:37:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-of-nuclear-decay/774522/21 "2016-12-14T01:14:36Z")
I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen other physicists use the term, but it’s a logical back-formation from “fission”, by analogy with “fuse” and “fusion”. In other words, you can use me as a cite that at least one physicist uses the word, but don’t use me as a cite that physicists use it. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-of-nuclear-decay/774522/22 "2016-12-14T02:50:43Z")
That’s all fine and dandy. But when they fiss, do we (you actually) pronounce the final “s” sound as in bliss, in fish, or in whiz? Enquiring minds and all that. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-of-nuclear-decay/774522/23 "2016-12-14T02:53:37Z")
> [@Kiwi\_Fruit](#): > > As “fiss” would normally be written as “split”, perhaps no one but **Chronos**. You often see things written like “One fission event will cause other nuclei to fission. Which in turn cause more nuclei to fission.” The first “fission” is fine. The other two seem like really poor English to non-physicist non-grammarian me. “Fiss” seems a much more logical way to construct that part of speech. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-of-nuclear-decay/774522/24 "2016-12-14T14:30:11Z")
> [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#): > > Interestingly, this has occurred in nature, in Gabon. > > [Natural nuclear fission reactor - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_nuclear_fission_reactor) Yes indeed … this is what started the family argument in the first place … I think there’s two uranium deposits in The Gabon where the [sup]235[/sup]U:[sup]238[/sup]U ratio is below what is found in all other uranium deposits … implying at some point in the past there was enough pressure to allow superspliticallity … Interesting … would the past participle of `to fiss` be `fuss` or would we use the impassive `splot` … as in “Once all the plutonium fuss that was able to splot, we were done with the experiment.” ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-of-nuclear-decay/774522/25 "2016-12-14T14:32:41Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen other physicists use the term, but it’s a logical back-formation from “fission”, by analogy with “fuse” and “fusion”. > > In other words, you can use me as a cite that at least one physicist uses the word, but don’t use me as a cite that physicists use it. On the other hand, fissicists by definition use it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-of-nuclear-decay/774522/26 "2016-12-14T14:53:46Z")
Just don’t get me started on the fizzy cysts. And for what it’s worth, I pronounce it with an S sound, not an SH sound, lest it sound piscine. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-of-nuclear-decay/774522/27 "2016-12-14T15:58:56Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > That’s all fine and dandy. > > But when they fiss, do we (you actually) pronounce the final “s” sound as in bliss, in fish, or in whiz? Enquiring minds and all that. I’d say it rhymes with bliss, in the same way that fissile rhymes with the British pronunciation of missile. There’s also the word [fissive,](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fissive) which rhymes with missive. Fission seems to be the odd one, rhyming with mission. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-of-nuclear-decay/774522/28 "2016-12-14T16:24:02Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > … > … as in whiz? You mean take a _pish_? ---
**Author:** ![Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-of-nuclear-decay/774522/29 "2016-12-14T19:01:52Z")
“Fission” is the verb, but for another data point: I’ve been known to use “fizz” (rhymes with “whiz”) when speaking informally / tongue-in-cheek-ily. > [@Machine Elf](#): > > Fission seems to be the odd one, rhyming with mission. Those words don’t rhyme for me. “zh” versus “sh”. Think “explosion” vs. “mission”. (I’ve heard both, though.) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-of-nuclear-decay/774522/30 "2016-12-14T19:12:38Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > I’d say it rhymes with bliss, in the same way that fissile rhymes with the British pronunciation of missile. > > There’s also the word [fissive,](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fissive) which rhymes with missive. > > Fission seems to be the odd one, rhyming with mission. In my US dialect fissile and missile rhyme as: Fiss’l and Miss’l. In my US dialect fission and mission rhyme as: Fish’n and Mish’n. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-of-nuclear-decay/774522.md?page=1)