why splitting a tiny particle can cause such a devastating blast
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in a normal chemical reaction, the energy you get out is stored in the bond between the various atoms and molecules. the energy of electrons clinging onto much larger nuclei.
when you perform nuclear fission, you’re actually destroying matter. you end up with less material than when you started. that missing matter was converted, in its entirety, into energy. how much energy? *a lot* E=mc^2 is actually for calculating it.
to help understand. in SI units. energy is joules (1 joule will lift an apple 1 meter straight up), mass is in kilograms (a textbook is 1-2 kg), and C is *the speed of light* (about 300 *million* meters per second) which is then squared.
a nuclear weapon is somewhere north of 15 kgs of material that scientists and engineers are trying to fission as quickly and violently as possible.
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