What happens when you split an atom?

Answer 1

RUN!!!!!

Answer 2

The nucleus of a stable atom always contains the same amount of protons and neutrons. When it does'nt its called an isotope.
There is tremendous energy holding protons and neutrons together.
When you split an atom, the energy holding the nucleus together is released in the form of gamma rays. Along follows the "free" protons,(alpha rays) and electrons (beta rays).
Massive atoms, meaning they have a lot of protons and neutrons, (like uranium) are often unstable and they have a lot of energy holding such an amount of protons and neutrons together.

Tough all atoms are made of the same basic ingredients(protons, neutrons and electrons)
the amount of energy they contain is proportional to their mass.
It would be harder to make an atomic bomb out of oxygen atoms, because most oxygen atoms are stable and also because they contain far less protons and neutrons then uranium.

In a nutshell the energy holding the nucleus together when split is released in the form of gamma rays.

Answer 3

It's just a figure of speech. Basically, you knock some atomic nuclei out of a complex atom like uranium and start a chain reaction.

What particle physicists do is accelerate an atomic nucleus to a very high fraction of the speed of light in a linear accelerator and have it collide with another atom, then study all the high energy particles that are produced from that collision. It's sort of like trying to figure out how a watch works by taking a hammer and smashing it.

JDSeth20's answer is very thorough, but I disagree that it is neutrons that hold the protons together inside the nucleus of an atom. It is the strong nuclear force, one of the four forces of our universe, that does that. The strong nuclear force is, well, very strong, but it only works over short distances - like the width of an atom. But inside that short distance, it reigns supreme.

The four known forces in our universe are:

Gravity (we still haven't quite figured that one out yet)
Electromagnetism (light)
The strong nuclear force (holds protons together)
The weak nuclear force (governs radioactive decay)

Answer 4

in case you chop up dissimilar atoms then you somewhat get dissimilar power. nicely, guy has mastered the technologies of splitting atoms. regardless of if in one in each of those nuclear reactors or atomic bombs, the approach is all the comparable - a bloated atom splits and in the approach provides of power and neutrons. those neutrons in turn reason greater atoms to chop up. in case you could administration the production of neutrons you have a technique acceptable for a nuclear reactor. in case you enable the neutrons bypass on predicting greater and greater neutrons you have a runaway chain reaction and a gadget acceptable for turning cities into glass-bottomed craters. much less complicated defined: think of roughly billiard balls. in case you slam one billiard ball into yet another they do no longer type one huge billiard ball. rather, they bounce off one yet another in opposite guidelines. it is frequently what happens whilst atoms come into touch with one yet another - they bypass bouncing off in opposite guidelines. even however, if those billiard balls are coming at one yet another with adequate power, extremely than bouncing, they might shatter one yet another, forming a huge mound of billiard-ball bits. right here our billiard ball analogy breaks down somewhat. If 2 hydrogen atoms come crashing collectively at intense adequate power, they often do no longer shatter into smaller areas (enable's no longer get into quarks right here), yet they might actually fuse, turning out to be a bigger atom.

Answer 5

you produced an atomic bomb like energy

Answer 6

The process of splitting the uranium atom to form smaller atoms is known as 'fission'. Nuclear fission releases a lot of energy, which can be used to heat water to produce steam. This can then be used to generate electricity. How? The U-235 atom is made up of 92 protons and 143 neutrons (that is how this particular isotope is named, because 92+143 = 235!). When U-235 atoms are bombarded with neutrons their nuclei (centres) split into two roughly equal parts, at the same time releasing two or three more neutrons. These neutrons then split the nuclei of other U-235 atoms, releasing more energy and more neutrons, and the process continues.

The end result is an enormous amount of energy (in the form of heat) from a small amount of uranium.

This 'chain reaction' is controlled inside a nuclear reactor. Steam made from the water heated by the fission is used to spin a turbine and drive a generator, to produce electricity!



How can the atom be split?

You may know what physicists think the atom is made of, but I'll go through it just in case you've never been told.

Amazingly, most of the atom is just empty space! If an atom was enlarged so that it was the size of Wembley stadium, The only things there would be a tiny blob about the size of an apple right in the centre, and other things floating around outside of the stadium, stretching right out into London. The blob in the middle is called the nucleus and it's incredibly dense and heavy. If the earth was compressed to the same density as a nucleus, it would only be a few centimetres across! This is why atoms are quite heavy, despite being mostly empty. The things floating around outside the stadium are the electrons and these are what get passed around between atoms in a chemical reaction. It's the nucleus that we're interested in, though. It's made of two kinds of 'particle' (It doesn't matter exactly what they are - just think of them as tiny blobs), called the proton and the neutron. Protons have a property called electric charge, the same thing that makes your hair crackle when you brush it quickly. For a few years after they discovered the nucleus, people were baffled by the fact that the nucleus didn't just fly apart. You know when your hair stands on end when you rub a balloon on your jumper and hold it above your head? The force that lifts your hair up is called the 'electric force' (not a very exciting name, I know!) and protons, all being electrically charged, push each other away quite hard. So why don't they all fly away from each other immediately? The answer is in the neutrons. You never get atoms with just protons in (except Hydrogen, but that only has one proton anyway). Strangely, all the atoms found in the universe have roughly equal numbers of protons and neutrons. Helium, for example, the 'Donald Duck' gas which you get in some ballons, has two protons and two neutrons in its nucleus. However, it was realised that some atoms which have too many neutrons or too many protons in their nuclei were unstable, giving off radiation which can be detected with Geiger Counters or photographic film. What is happening is that the delicate balance of protons and neutrons is upset, and the nucleus gets all excitable. Sooner or later, one of the neutrons just turns into a proton, spitting out an electron at high speed. Something odd is going on. What is so special about neutrons that help them to stick nuclei together, and why do they behave strangely if there are too many of them? The answer is that protons and neutrons all attract each other if you bring them close enough together. The protons push each other away because they are charged, but the extra sticking power from the neutrons, which have no charge and so don't mind sitting next to each other, just manages to stop the protons from flying apart. It's a delicate balancing act, and if the electric force between protons was just a tiny bit stronger ther would be no atoms, no planets and definitely no Mad Scientists or curious questioners.

These atoms which are wobbly and unstable are called 'radioactive' (nothing to do with Radio One! it's just historical accident). One particular kind of radioactivity happens when a big heavy nucleus with a hundred protons and a hundred neutrons simply tears itself into two bits, spitting out one or two neutrons in the process. The speed of these neutrons is just enough to crack open another nuclus of the same type. Imagine your surprise if you threw a ball at a coconut at the funfair and the coconut cracked in half, spitting out more balls which knocked cracked all the other coconuts in the stall, and those coconuts sent out hundreds of balls which smashed all the coconuts in the stall next door! This 'chain reaction', as it's known, is what people mean when they say 'splitting the atom'. If we get lots of this type of atom together (it's a kind of metal called Uranium which is mined in Africa and Asia, mainly) there are so many neutrons flying about inside it that they start to cause a chain reaction. In ordinary radioactivity the nucleus just falls apart on its own, without any prodding. In Uranium, though, the nuclei all prod each other with neutrons, making the process happen very quickly, generating a lot of radiation and a lot of heat. In theory we can control this reaction easily, just by slowing down the neutrons and controlling how many of them are allowed to bash their neighbours. The speed of the reaction, and the amount of heat given out, is quite slow, and we can use it to boil water in 'nuclear power stations' to make electricity. In practice, of course, it's not completely foolproof and can sometimes be dangerous. We need energy to warm our houses and cook our food, and Uranium is a very cheap fuel, but is it too dangerous because of all the radiation given out? People are still arguing about it. There is another use for these chain reactions which doesn't really have many benefits. If we allow the reaction to happen as quick as it can, the amount of heat generated is enormous, and the Uranium gets hotter than the sun in a fraction of a second. This is a nuclear bomb. Like many new technologies, splitting the atom has good and bad uses, and it's up to us to learn how to use our knowledge wisely.

Answer 7

you have a weapon of mass destruction. so the head chief will invade you.

Answer 8

You get two angry atoms.

Answer 9

Boom. Energy release

Answer 10

You have to pay for it

Answer 11

THE BIG KABOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!