• Question: can you split atoms? if yes what happens?

    Asked by jayden2609 to Ash, Andrew, Gem, Paige, SJ on 28 Jun 2012. This question was also asked by landshark, vinequeen5339.
    • Photo: Ashley Cadby

      Ashley Cadby answered on 28 Jun 2012:

      I can’t but many people have done it. The first time an split the atom was on a squash court in america. When you split an atom (generally its a big atom), it will break up into daughter particles. Normally these will be a few small particles such as alpha and beta particles and a couple of big particles which are basically two smaller atoms. There is also some energy released, this energy is freed because it’s not needed to hold the original atom together one last note is that the daughter atoms are not normally stable and will break up on their own a little time later in to smaller atoms until they become stable.

    • Photo: Paige Brown

      Paige Brown answered on 29 Jun 2012:

      Absolutely! Well, other researchers can at least!

      Did you know that some radiation happens as atoms start to spew out some of the smaller particles that they are made out of? So atoms can definitely give off energy in the form of some of their own smaller particles like electrons and photons, and thus can even become different atoms in the process!

      Splitting atoms is exactly how nuclear weapons work. Here is a good explanation of atomic fission, or splitting atoms, that happens in nukes:

      This is a great explanation: (http://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear_weapons_and_global_security/nuclear_weapons/technical_issues/nuclear-weapons-how-they.html)

      “The nuclei of atoms consist of two types of particles: positively charged protons and neutrons with no electric charge. (All atoms of the same element have the same number of protons, but the number of neu­trons can vary.) The nuclei of some radio­active elements can split—or fission—if bombarded with fast-moving neutrons. The by-products of this fission are two lighter nuclei, one or more free neutrons, and energy in the form of heat and light.

      Certain isotopes of radioactive elements (i.e., variations of the same element with different numbers of neutrons in the nucleus) such as plutonium-239 or uranium-235 can emit two neutrons when they fission. These secondary neutrons then collide with other nearby nuclei, causing them to fission and release two more neutrons. Each fission reaction doubles the amount of neutrons and energy released, causing a chain reaction. After only a few microseconds, this chain reaction can produce an explosion equivalent to the detonation of many thousands of tons (or kilotons) of TNT. The so-called atomic (or A-) bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nag asaki, Japan, in 1945 were fission-based, and had explosive yields equivalent to about 15 and 20 kilotons of TNT, respectively. Similar fission processes (though controlled) generate the energy in nuclear reactors.”

      So you see, its all about splitting atoms and creating so many new atoms and particles so quickly that you get an explosion as all those particles expand so quickly. They need somewhere to go! And all it takes if for that first unstable atom to split and start the chain reaction…

Comments