• Question: How do you split an atom?

    Asked by 728nenp24 to Tiernan, Sonia, Mossy, Maureen, Bernard on 6 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Bernard

      Bernard answered on 6 Nov 2018:


      Fire one isotope into another.

    • Photo: Maureen

      Maureen answered on 6 Nov 2018:


      Each atom is made up of sub-atomic particles. If you shoot one of these at an atom, it splits into pieces. [https://www.howitworksdaily.com/how-to-split-an-atom/]

    • Photo: Sonia Lenehan

      Sonia Lenehan answered on 7 Nov 2018:


      That is amazing!

    • Photo: Mossy

      Mossy answered on 9 Nov 2018:


      Wait…is that the set up to a joke?

      If not.. you basically need to impart more energy into the atom than is keeping the nucleus together. There are 4 kinds of forces in nature: Electromagnetism (the thing that gives you shocks), Gravity (the thing that makes you fall) …and two more – the weak nuclear force, and the strong nuclear force. The strong nuclear force is what binds all the protons in the nucleus together. It’s…very, very strong. It’s about 10000000000000000000000000000000 times stronger than gravity. If you can break that force, you can split an atom.

Comments