How did Albert Einstein come up with the theory to split the atom?

Answer 1

I'm not sure how he thought it up exactly, but this is how I see it. The atom has electrons spinning around it which have a negative charge. In the tightly packed nucleus are neutrons with no charge and protons with a positive charge. Einstein knew that inside the nucleus are large amounts of energy waiting to be released. An earlier genius, Newton, theorized the 4 forces, 2 of which the strong and weak force located inside the nucleus of an atom. Einstein also developed his famous equation E=mc2 as well as other equations. When the atom is split the strong and weak force and large amounts of explosive energy is released, but how could it be done? You could do this by shooting a particle at an extremely high speed at the nucleus. At the time, atoms, electrons, neutrons, protons, and photons were the only known particles. Uranium has a large nucleus and is very unstable. You can't shoot an electron at it because it is too small and it would retract from the opposing electrons negative charge. You can't shoot a proton at it because it would retract from the opposing protons. If you shot a neutron at it it would go straight to the nucleus with no interference because it has no charge. When uranium is split two new atoms are formed and two neutrons are released. They will split two neighboring uranium atoms and now you have an out of control nuclear or atom explosion. More and more energy is released until the uranium is depleted.