Thanks again for taking the time to submit your Stump the Scientist questions via GE’s Facebook page! We had some great questions submitted this week, hope you enjoy this one!
This week’s question: “why do atoms explode when you split them?”
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Response from Chief Scientist Jim Bray
Not all atoms “explode” when you split them, but some do. Physicists call the splitting fission, and it is the heavy center (called the nucleus) of an atom that can fission. Physicists call those atoms that fission easily “fissile”, and uranium and plutonium are examples. Fissile materials are always big, heavy atoms; the light ones do not “explode” if fissioned. By “explode”, we mean that the atoms give off a lot of energy in some form when they fission. When a heavy atom’s nucleus fissions, it splits into 2 parts which are, of course, lighter. In fact, if we weigh the 2 parts and add the weights together, we get a smaller number than the weight of the original atom. This missing matter is turned into energy according to Einstein’s famous equation: E=mc2, where E is energy, m is the missing matter, and c is the speed of light. This energy is responsible for the “explosion”, which occurs in atomic bombs, for example. This energy release only occurs for heavy atoms because the lighter atoms are more stable, and so if we try to fission (split) light atoms, the do not have more stable atoms into which to split, and we won’t release any energy.
Jim
