spallation, high-energy nuclear reaction in which a target nucleus struck by an incident (bombarding) particle of energy greater than about 50 million electron volts (MeV) ejects numerous lighter particles and becomes a product nucleus correspondingly lighter than the original nucleus. The light ejected particles may be neutrons, protons, or various composite particles equivalent to nuclei of hydrogen, helium, or lithium isotopes. The product nucleus is occasionally much lighter than the target nucleus; chlorine-38, for example, has been produced along with an assortment of neutrons, protons, and alpha particles (helium nuclei) by bombarding copper-63 with protons accelerated to 70 MeV.