how do you split an atom? – Brain Zone March 2010

Question: how do you split an atom?

Asked by incom378 to Anne, Carolyn, Joe, Mariana, Nick on 17 Mar 2010 in Categories: General.
- Joseph Devlin answered on 17 Mar 2010:
  
  Very carefully. Actually, I tend not to split atoms — too much effort.
- Mariana Vargas answered on 17 Mar 2010:
  
  Ooops, I don’t really know the answer to this one, but I think you fire something at it (a neutron?) at a really high speed.
- Nick Bradshaw answered on 18 Mar 2010:
  
  Basically you need a lot of energy to get it started. Particle physicists do this by firing atoms at each other very very quickly. If they are going fast enough then the crash when they collide will provide enough energy to split them.
  
  Having said that, some substances like uranium will spontanteously split you get enough of them together in one lump (an amount called a critical mass). A simple nuclear bomb bascially consists of getting two lumps of uranium, both slightly below this amount and hitting them together. Once the first few atoms at the centre split, the energy they release will cause those around them to split and so on until you end up with a massive nuclear explosion.
- Carolyn McGettigan answered on 18 Mar 2010:
  
  Hit a uranium isotope with a free neutron and watch the chain reaction go!
- Anne Seawright answered on 18 Mar 2010:
  
  Erm, this was a long time ago but using a particle accelerator…. speeding them up using a magnetic field and then change the magnetic field so they crash and split….. maybe a bit simplistic?!

Comments

incom378 commented on 24 Mar 2010:

thanks
piffar10 commented on 24 Mar 2010:

where do you find ginger genes!!!!!!!
piffar10 commented on 24 Mar 2010:

Where all Vikings Ginger!!! 😀

Question: how do you split an atom?