system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5 how does splitting the atom cause such a big explosion?
gpt
It takes a lot of energy to put the atom together in the first place.  Imagine a large very strong spring.  Imagine that it takes a lot of energy to push it together, and when you get it together, you latch it so it stays.  Now to unlatch it takes energy to open the latch, but when you do, all the energy of the spring is released.  the atom is the same.  It takes a lot of energy to push the positively charged protons together, but when you do, another form of energy takes hold, and latches.  To split the atom takes energy to force the a little bit apart, but then the repulsion takes over and releases more energy.