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The power of Uranium

A Hydrogen Bomb

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 There are two ways to start a nuclear reaction. The easiest, is fission. Fission is the process of splitting a unstable atom into two smaller atoms, by adding a neutron to the unstable atom. When the neutron is added, the atom splits in two; releasing the energy that was used to hold it together. Prior to the 1930’s, it was considered impossible to split an atom. Since the invention of the cyclotron, it has been possible. The cyclotron, or particle-smasher, is a machine that speeds up protons. The first cyclotron was a collection of tubes that went around in a circle and at instances would give a jolt of electricity to the proton; which was spinning around the track in a magnetic field. The inventor of the cyclotron, Ernest Lawrence, found that if the proton was in a magnetic field, it would take the same amount of time to go all the way around the circle. By the time the proton had completed one loop, it had enough speed to split a nucleus. #2 The second way to start a nuclear reaction, is fusion. Fusion is exactly what is sounds like, fusing of two atoms together. Due to the internal forces acting on the nucleus, this reaction cannot be obtained just by applying pressure on the atoms. It takes not only an incredible amount of pressure, but an immense temperature, around 15,000,000ºK. These two factors make replicating this reaction, in a controlled fashion, is very difficult here on earth. But in space, it is constantly going on. The sun uses the fusion of atoms every second.