When the atom was split- what was it split into?

Question

i know this sounds dumb, but i dont quite understand the whole "atom splitting" bussiness

Answer 1

When an atom is split as in a nuclear explosion the nucleus and the electrons are separated. This causes an enormous amount of energy to be released,(see Einstein E=MC squared). And there you have a big big bang.

Answer 2

Go Ernest Rutherford!!!
Its a term rather than an actual event where an atom is literally split into pieces.

I know that Rutherford used particles of an atom (alpha and beta) to help dertemine what the structure inside an atom was ( before it was thought to be like a "plum pudding" with positive (protons) and negative (electrons) nad the neutrons pretty much scattered thruout the entire atom, but this study which fired these particals at a gold foil determined that the majority of the atom was "space" and had a central nucleus ( eg the typical stucture of little electrons zinging round the nucleus) based on how the particles were "bounced off" or passed thru.....I'm always a little sketchy on what exactly happened, but most particals went straight tru, while some were relfected back ( as determined by the pattern on the gold) and putting it all togehter, Rutherford came up with the model we used pretty much today (with added info we have gained over time).

Answer 3

I'm not an expert here, but I think I can shed a little light on the subject; between the turn of the twentieth century and the late 1930s phycisists had come to realize that heavy atoms like Uranium would throw off particles and the nucleus left behind would be another element 1 or 2 spaces apart on the periodic table. This is radioactivity and it was surprising at that time. In the late 30's Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner in Germany were trying to get Uranium to change into the next element on the list by bombarding Uranium nuclei with some sort of heavy particle. I think it was helium nuclei, much heavier than electrons, but very, very small compared to Uranium. When analyzing the products left behind they (rather reluctantly) came to the conclusion that they had split Uranium nuclei into nearly equal halves.
Physicists had come to understand that these heavy atoms could have very small pieces chipped off through natural radioactivity or deliberate bombardment, but they were astounded to realize that these heavy atoms could be broken into halves. Or something close to halves. Today, with more and more understanding "splitting the atom" is not so surprising. Though it certainly did and does have huge implications.

Answer 4

During nuclear fission, the nucleus of an atom is split into two smaller atomic nuclei, known as the "fission products". Depending on the element involved, this can also produce free neutrons and energy.

For example, uranium-235 is split into krypton-92 and barium-141, along with three free neutrons and energy.

EDIT: Changed "daughter products" to "fission products". Got my terms mixed up. Daughter products result from spontaneous decay.

Answer 5

i'm getting your question - an ingredient is a specfic team of atoms - they don't unavoidably could be made out of those atoms, as they might exist by potential of themselves, alongside with Helium. Inert (unreactive), and so consequently exists as itself and basically itself for sure, as that's totally not effortless to reason it to react. Radioactive decay as point out in the previous is only for atoms that are volatile by potential of. the nucleus, alongside with a extraordinary style of neutrons or it rather is purely too huge. as an occasion, the previous answer isnt completely authentic - Carbon-13 (word that carbon seems with a mass style of 12 and an atomic style of 6 -subsequently a extraordinary style of neutrons) and Unununium- no. 111 that's basically too huge to exist so it breaks down in a fragment of a 2d.

Answer 6

An atom is composed of sub-atomic parts. Therefore when the atom was split, it split into it's component parts.

Subatomic parts are divisible into even smaller parts known as quarks.

Answer 7

When atoms are collided in a particle accelerator, they [the proton(s) and neutron(s)] are broken down into elementary particles, namely the quark and the gluon. Every proton and neutron contains 3 quarks, with 3 gluons to "glue" the quarks together.
The atom is essentially broken down into free, high-energy quarks that can easily be detected.Gluons have not been detected in a particle accelerator (yet).

Diagram of a proton:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/92/Quark_structure_proton.svg/525px-Quark_structure_proton.svg.png
Shows two "up" quarks (red and blue) and one "down"
quark (green)
Gluons are the yellow coils binding the quarks together

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluons

Answer 8

The simple answer is 'smaller atoms, + a couple of odd particles, + energy.`
If you want more detail, it gets complicated.

Answer 9

when atoms are splitted into two they are known as "quarks" they are smaller than an atom, i think they are twice smaller than an atom

Answer 10

Hey, sorry for the type of page, but it's what you wanted answer wise,.. take a look at this :)

http://www.science.ca/askascientist/viewquestion.php?qID=416