How much energy does one atom have?

Question

How much energy is actually contained in a single atom, and if the energy was utilized to its fullest efficiency, how much power could that provide (ex. power a house for a year, power the world for a 100 years, etc...)?

I know that it's mass times the speed of light squared, but I just wondered about the benefits of nuclear power (the power produced from the amount of energy from each atom).

Answer 1

it's mass time the speed of light squared. It's really not that much from one atom. I posted the answer a few months ago, did you check to see if this was already asked?


we see that for heavy nuclides (mass about 240u), the mean biding energy per nucleon is about 7.6MeV. For middle-mass nuclides (mass about 120), it is about 8.5 MeV. This difference in total binding energy between a single large nucleus and two fragments (assumed to be equal) into which it may be split is then close to 200MeV. This is a relatively large amount of released energy per fission event. When a chain reaction occurs, many atoms and nuclei are involved so lots of energy is released.
http://www.world-mysteries.com/sci_9.htm

Answer 2

Of course that depends on atom size.
The smallest atom is hydrogen, essentially a proton (the electron is negligable by comparison).
Due to E=mc^2, the mass of an atom is measured in electron volts. An electron volt is one electron falling through a one volt potential field (very small indeed).
A proton is .938GeV (.938 billion electron volts).
This is 1.67 x 10^-27 kg. A kg is 2.2 lbs.
In 1 ampere of electrical current (a vacuum cleaner draws 12 amps commonly) is 6 x 10^18 electrons,
so .938 GeV is not a lot.
But 1 gr of hydrogen, a mole, has 6 x 10^23 atoms.
So 6 x 10^23(.938GeV)=5.628x10^32 eV
or 9.38x10^13 W (watts) or 1.26x10^11 hp
120 billion horsepower, quite a bit.
So atoms, en masse, if they could be completely converted into energy, as in the matter-antimatter converter or Star Trek, do contain an appreciable amount of energy per unit mass.
1 kg = 90 petajoules = 10^15 joules = 1 quadrillion joules of energy
1 joule will lift 1 kg 10 centimeters against earth's gravity.
So 1 kg of matter completely converted to energy is
a very large amount of energy.
Atomic bombs convert a tiny percentage.
Okay?
How are the dilithium crystals? Is it gonna blow?

Answer 3

The equation E=mc^2 is true but, it does not apply in this case.
If you're talking about actually breaking a proton or neutron into 3 (it must always be 3)
parts, you would find three quarks. Each of these quarks is bound by the strong nuclear force and would be literally impossible to keep them apart in order to harness their energy.

Answer 4

This, and not the previous answer, is correct