Can you split atoms

When the atom is split it does not split into two exact halves; uranium, for example, has 92 protons in its nucleus. An atom of uranium typically splits into an atom of krypton 36 protons and an atom of barium 56 protons. This is called binary fission. On rare occasions atoms can be split in three, it is called ternary fission. NASA has already created a nuclear reactor that can operate in space.

This small, compact reactor is said to be able to create enough energy 10 kilowatts of electricity to power several average households continuously for 10 years. Although not yet tested in space, this kind of power system has been developed to allow us to travel farther into space, well beyond our current explorations to the Moon.

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Judge urges siblings in battle over 'modest' estate to seek a compromise. The researchers want to build quantum mechanics bridges by letting the atom touch adjacent atoms while it is being pulled apart so that it works like a bridge span between two pillars. The results have just been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Dividing atoms?

What sounds like nuclear fission and radioactivity is, however, a precision process using quantum mechanics. The laws of quantum mechanics allow objects to exist in several states simultaneously. This is what the so-called double-slit experiment is based on, where a particle can go through two slits at the same time.

The Bonn scientists working with Prof. Dieter Meschede from the Institute for Applied Physics of the University of Bonn succeeded in keeping a single atom simultaneously in two places that were more than ten micrometers, or one hundredth of a millimeter, apart. This is an enormous distance for an atom. Afterwards, the atom was put back together undamaged.

The fragile quantum effects can only occur at the lowest temperatures and with careful handling. One method is cooling a cesium atom enormously using lasers -- to a temperature of a tenth of a million above absolute zero -- and then holding it with another laser. This laser beam is key to splitting the atom. It works because atoms have a spin that can go in two directions.

Depending on the direction, the atom can be moved to the right or the left by the laser like on a conveyor. Key is that the atom's spin can be in both directions simultaneously. So, if the atom is moved to the right and left at the same time, it will split. But you cannot see the split directly; if you shine a light on the atom to take a picture, the split will collapse immediately. The atom can then be seen in several images; sometimes on the left, sometimes on the right -- but never in both places.

And yet, the split can be proved successfully by putting the atom back together. And if left to his own devices, could Richard Handl really have split atoms in his kitchen? Kent Hansen, professor emeritus of nuclear science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, thinks not.

First off, Handl didn't have the right raw materials, according to Tom Ewing, a nuclear scientist at Argonne National Laboratory, outside Chicago.

None of those were going to work. Radium doesn't fission , or split when bombarded with neutrons. To make americium work, you need a complex nuclear reactor, and depleted uranium contains scant amounts of the right variety for nuclear fission: U The vast majority of uranium in nature is another kind, U There's no way someone could do it in their kitchen.