Do all atoms have these massive amounts of potential energy or are there specific atoms used in these bombs?
In: Chemistry
Different elements will split or fuse if you add different amounts of energy.
An “atom bomb” splits uranium apart. (putting a bunch of uranium close together causes it to bump into each other and split, releasing energy, which hits other atoms and releases even more energy.
Each atom in the universe can be split or fused which would release a large amount of energy. Unfortunately, the energy required to be put in usually exceeds the energy which would be given off for most elements. (trying to split an oxygen atom takes more energy than it releases) Hydrogen can be fused (a hydrogen bomb) but the energy required to make it happen is very high, in fact, to do it generally requires a fission bomb to detonate next to a container of hydrogen to get the hydrogen to fuse. (very oversimplified explanation)
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