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submitted 3 days ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

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[-] BennyInc@feddit.org 1 points 3 days ago

That’s easy to explain, having cut a lot of cucumbers in my life. Since the actual nucleus of an atom is much smaller than the atom including its electrons itself, the probability of hitting the protons or neutrons is so small, that I’d need to live for a few thousand years and cut 1 cucumber per second nonstop, before this scenario happens even once. It is not impossible, just very improbable.

[-] Rooskie91@discuss.online 29 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Fission doesn't happen because we cut atoms in half. Fission happens because we blast enriched uranium with neutrons, the uranium absorbs a neutron, gets too heavy, and falls apart.

I mean think about it. Atoms are surrounded by a negatively charged electron cloud. Pushing 2 atoms together would be (sorta) like trying to push the like poles of two magnets together.

[-] BennyInc@feddit.org 9 points 3 days ago

That’s just one way to do it.

[-] jlh@lemmy.jlh.name 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Sure, but you can also rip off electrons from atoms by rubbing them or bending a piece of wire. The energy needed to trigger fission in uranium is less than a picojoule, it just needs to be focused enough to knock away the part of the atom, which is why neutrons are the most common way.

Here is a chart with the rate of fusion for two hydrogen atoms at various temperatures.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fusion#/media/File%3AFusion_rxnrate.svg

This chart bottoms out at a few million degrees, since the probability is extremely low.