4 main stages: physicists have created the most accurate description of the splitting of an atom into two parts

American theoretical physicists have created simulations that have helped reveal the first complete microscopic signature of the moment an atom splits into two pieces. This opens up new possibilities for understanding a famous energy phenomenon that defined science and technology in the 20th century. This study was published in the journal Physical Review Letters, according to ScienceAlert.

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Physicists believe that they have created the most accurate theoretical explanation of the splitting of an atom into two parts, without the need for any assumptions or simplifications. Scientists say they have made an accurate prediction for the first time about this process, which has never existed before. Physicists used extremely precise equations of motion known from nuclear physics and quantum mechanics to understand exactly what happens when an atom is split into two pieces.

The word “atom” comes from a Latin word meaning “indivisible”. But in the late 30s of the last century, physicists discovered that this word incorrectly describes the atom. During the experiments, it turned out that the nucleus of the uranium atom, subjected to neutron bombardment, split into two parts. So the atom cannot be divided. Now physicists have managed to uncover more secrets of nuclear fission.

Physicists say that if you put aside simplified models of atoms in which protons and neutrons are clustered together, the atomic nucleus is a storm of quantum activity. It is difficult to understand how individual nucleons, the fundamental particles that make up the nucleus of the atom, behave and interact with each other, but it is even more difficult to understand this process when the atom changes.

To make the process of splitting the atom more understandable, physicists divided it into four stages. The supercomputer simulation used atoms of the isotopes uranium-238, plutonium-240 and californium-252 with different initial conditions.

• The simulation showed that, within the first 10 to the 14th second, the addition of a slow-moving neutron caused the atom’s nucleus to swell and form into a point called a saddle point, making the atom look somewhat similar to the other. a peanut.
• In the second stage, a cavity called the saddle gap is formed, where parts of the fission process are formed. This phase lasts approximately 5×10 to minus 21 seconds.
• In the third stage, the atomic nucleus completely disintegrates and is officially divided into two parts within 10 to minus 22 seconds.
• In the fourth stage, which lasts 10 minus 18 seconds, fission fragments form and accelerate, leading to the release of neutrons and gamma rays. In this case, the final stage creates further decay processes after a short delay.

Physicists say quantum simulations are the most accurate description to date of exactly what to expect at the moment of rupture, when the bridge connecting the two halves of a large atomic nucleus contracts and separates.

As I already wrote FocusA way to confirm the existence of dark matter has been found. Researchers believe dark matter particles may have hit Earth at some point in our planet’s distant past.

Moreover Focus He wrote about why physicists believe that the Universe began with the Big Bang and what other secrets this event, which took place approximately 14 billion years ago, holds.