Quote:
Originally posted by bridge7too7far
Spliting the Atom causes nuclr war bomb but if you culd split the atom wuld you dare do it
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This is absolutely wrong
The splitting of the atom proper first occured in 1934 well before WWII
Splitting a solitary atom is not that relatively dangerous as we have naturally occuring radioative materials in the UK like Cornwall, and the radio activity is caused by unstable atom spontaneously splitting.
Cornwall, last time I checked is not a nuclear wasteland, but people do have to check for radioactive Radon gas, a different matter.
The real interesting stuff occurs when you have more than one atom and the products of the "split" atom, and alpha particle and a neutron, especially a neutron go on to split other atoms in a chain reaction.
A fission bomb is only an uncontrolled chain reaction, where as we split atoms in nuclear fission safely on a daily basis in nuclear power stations which produce no CO2.
In terms of firepower if we must talk weapons, the more powerful device is actually a nuclear fusion bomb, where we are joining Heavy Hydrogen nuclei (i.e Deuterium) to produce Helium nuclei, the same process in the sun.