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Why does nuclear fission only happens at critical mass?

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Alexandrine Nienow

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Q: Why does nuclear fission only happens at critical mass?
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How does nuclear fission end?

It ends by losing the critical mass or by introducing high neutron capturing material.


Is an example of nuclear fission?

An example of nuclear fission might be a nuclear weapon. In this device, sub-critical masses of fissionable material are driven together by conventional explosives. This "assembles" a critical mass, and a chain reaction will follow. That is a nuclear fission chain reaction. In another example, a nuclear reactor has its control rods pulled and achieves criticality. It is brought to operating temperature and generates heat to make steam and drive turbines. The reactor operates on the principle of nuclear fission.


Critical mass is the of material required to produce a chain reaction?

minimum amount


What happens to the loss mass during fission?

It becomes energy, hence the energy released in nuclear bombs.


If you have a critical mass of a radioactive material what can occur?

In a critical mass, the material involved starts to undergo fission because of the presence of a dense neutron flux. The fission produces neutrons, which add to the neutron flux. This causes a great release of heat. Reaching critical mass does not imply a powerful nuclear explosion. A powerful nuclear explosion develops when critical mass is attained for a long enough time for the majority of the nuclear material to get involved. This is a very tricky thing to do and does not happen accidentally. What can happen accidentally is a nuclear "pop," a sort of small explosion which throws the material apart, destroying the critical mass, and possibly producing a lot of pollution. (This was not what happened at Chernobyl, which was steam and chemical.)


What are the similarities between nuclear reactors and nuclear bombs?

Both have critical mass, and create energy from a fission chain reaction. In nuclear bombs, the chain reaction is uncontained and spreads to all the fissionable material nearly instantaneously.


How do you convert the mass?

Nuclear fission should do the trick.


How nuclear fusion differ to nuclear fission in terms of energy release?

Energy from nuclear fusion is around 400 times more than that of nuclear fission for same mass.


How nuclear technologies produce enermouse amount of energy?

Nuclear fission produces energy 2.5 million times that of carbon of same mass. Nuclear fusion produces energy 400 times that of nuclear fission of same mass.


What does a 'reflector' do in the core of a fission atomic bomb?

The reflector in a nuclear weapon core is made of a material which can reflect neutrons from fission in the core back into the core, instead of wasting them. A tamper can permit a smaller mass of nuclear fuel (an unreflected subcritical mass of nuclear material can quickly become critical if a reflector is used). Depending on the material, they can also have a neutron-moderation effect. The tamper in many nuclear weapons is also the reflector.


What is the splitting of an atomic nucleus to form two smaller nuclei of roughly equal mass?

Nuclear fission


Does nuclear fusion produce much less energy per atom than nuclear fission?

Nuclear fusion produce energy 400 times more than nuclear fission for the same mass.