When Does An Atom Split?

When struck by a neutron, an atom possesses the absolute tendency to split and break up.  Not just the atom but also the nucleus of the atom breaks too, into two roughly congruent segments – at the time of splitting, the nucleus also tends to shoot out a number of several high-speed neutrons.

Atoms are basically microscopic creations, so puny in size that sometimes it is even hard to determine their presence under the power magnifying powers of a microscope.  These are the building blocks composing the structure of an element.  Atom is actually a Greek word that comes under the comprehension 'cannot be cut'.  In contrast to its literary meaning, atoms do split and cut into even smaller segments.  Each segment contains minute particles and carries two types of electricity – one relevant to the electrons that are negatively charged and the second one coming out of the protons that are positively charged.  As for the core of the nucleus, it is made up of protons (positively charged ones) and neutrons (no charge at all).