• Question: What is the process of splitting an atom

    Asked by to Aled, Ellie, Kev, Willem on 20 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Willem Heijltjes

      Willem Heijltjes answered on 20 Mar 2014:

      Hi tehelement!

      To split an atom, in “nuclear fission”, you hit it with a small, fast particle, usually a neutron. In uranium (and other nuclear fuels) the splitting itself creates more fast neutrons, and these will split more atoms, and so on! That’s why nuclear reactions can sometimes get out of control – as happened in Fukushima!

    • Photo: Aled Roberts

      Aled Roberts answered on 21 Mar 2014:

      Don’t give Fukushima a bad name! IT was hit by multiple earth quakes AND tsunamis! It never stood a chance! haha :p

      If you want to split an atom in a more controlled environment then you could smash them together using the Large Hadron Collider at CERN but this is slightly different (but it also allows you to look inside of atoms too!)

      😀

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