Solved cryptogram
Splitting a heavy atom releases energy, and so does fusing two light ones, for one reason.
Physics Facts, sourced to HyperPhysics, Georgia State University.
Solve it yourself
This fact is a cryptogram here: 72 letters over 19 different ones, graded medium.
Or go to the puzzle’s own page first.
What it means
Nuclei are most tightly bound near iron in the middle of the table. Anything heavier gives up energy by breaking toward that middle, and anything lighter gives up energy by joining toward it, so the two opposite processes both run downhill to the same valley floor. That single curve explains reactors, hydrogen bombs and the life cycle of stars, and it is why a star that has built an iron core has nothing left to burn.
The claim comes from HyperPhysics, Georgia State University.
- SourceHyperPhysics, Georgia State University
- CollectionPhysics Facts
- Difficultymedium
- Length72 letters, 19 of them different
Nearby in the collection
The facts either side of this one.
- CMS Experiment, CERNmedium, 74 letters
- U.S. Department of Energymedium, 76 letters
- Brookhaven National Laboratoryhard, 71 letters
- U.S. Department of Energyeasy, 73 letters
About as hard as this one
Scored closest to it by the model behind our guide to solving cryptograms.
- NASAmedium, 73 letters
- HyperPhysics, Georgia State Universitymedium, 67 letters
- NISTmedium, 72 letters
- NISThard, 74 letters