What happens during a chain reaction?

Answer 1

You put in DNA that you want replicated into a buffered solution containing all four nucleotides (AGCT), add primers and Taq Polymerase. Heat to denature the DNA into seperate strands. Then the polymerase will anneal the primers and extend (duplicate the sequence) as cools. Heat... repeat...heat... repeat...etc etc etc until you have as much DNA as you need. 25-35 cycles is usually enough to produce all the DNA you need for most other applications.

Answer 2

Heavy, unstable elements like Plutonium or Uranium has far more neutrons than protons intheir nucleus. When they are exposed to more neutrons, they become unstable and split up into lighter elements through fission. This releases more neutrons along with a lot of energy from the atom that split up. The released neutrons interact with more of the heavy atoms which repeat the reaction. This happens with all the atoms of the heavy element creating the chain reaction. Ultimately, what causes the chain reaction is unstable, heavy elements interacting with neutrons.

Answer 3

A chain reaction is the continuation of a reaction initiated by the reaction itself. In some cases it is a closed reaction, where the repetition ends. In others, it will continue until it exhausts the available reactants.

A nuclear chain reaction would include

1) fission, where the neutrons released by a split atom travel outward and cause fission in other radioactive atoms

2) fusion, where the heat energy released by the reaction triggers the fusion of more atoms in a very hot and dense plasma

A nuclear reactor moderates a safe fission reaction in a critical mass of radioactive material by allowing only a portion of the neutrons to reach other fissionable atoms. Otherwise, the reaction would cascade into a runaway criticality that would generate too much heat, melting and damaging the nuclear pile.

In an atomic bomb, the chain reaction spreads to millions of atoms practically instantaneously. The reaction only lasts a fraction of a second but releases an incredible amount of energy.

Answer 4

The chain reaction of Uranium:

1 a uranium nucleus is hit by a neutron

2 It absorbs the neutron

3 It decays (splits) into 2 daughter atoms and 3 neutrons

4 These neutrons spread out

5 Go back to 1

The original neutron causes a continual chain of reactions (if there are enough other uranium atoms around)

Answer 5

by keeping the chain going. If you do what your gonna do next that keeps the chain going