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What is the minimum amount of material needed to sustain a nuclear reaction?
The minimum amount of material needed to sustain a nuclear reaction depends on the type of reaction. For example, in a nuclear fission reaction, a critical mass of fissile material is needed to sustain a chain reaction. In a fusion reaction, high temperatures and pressures are needed to overcome the electrostatic repulsion between nuclei.
What element is needed to make a nuclear weapon?
A nuclear weapon requires enriched uranium or plutonium as the fissile material to sustain a chain reaction and create a nuclear explosion. Additionally, a conventional chemical explosive is needed to trigger the nuclear reaction.
What processes is the nuclear material divided?
Nuclear material can be divided through the process of nuclear fission. This involves splitting the atomic nuclei of heavy elements like uranium or plutonium, releasing energy and additional neutrons that can sustain a chain reaction. By controlling this process, power can be harnessed in nuclear reactors or used in nuclear weapons.
Describe a characteristic of a fissionable substance that is essential for a chain reaction to sustain itself?
Firstly it must be able to capture neutrons which then have a high probability of causing its nuclei to undergo fission or splitting, and the fissions must produce enough further neutrons so that for every fission that occurs, another one will follow.
What is the science behind the atomic bomb?
The science is that of nuclear physics. By taking an unstable heavy substance, such as uranium or plutonium, and hitting it with neutrons, some of the material will break (fission) into lighter materials, releasing energy, and more neutrons, which in turn cause more material to fission. This is called a nuclear chain reaction.
What is the quantity of fissionable material called that CANNOT sustain a nuclear reaction?
Subcritical mass is the quantity of fissionable material that cannot sustain a nuclear reaction. When the amount of fissionable material is below the critical mass required to sustain a chain reaction, it is considered subcritical.
What is the minimum amount of material needed to sustain a nuclear reaction?
The minimum amount of material needed to sustain a nuclear reaction depends on the type of reaction. For example, in a nuclear fission reaction, a critical mass of fissile material is needed to sustain a chain reaction. In a fusion reaction, high temperatures and pressures are needed to overcome the electrostatic repulsion between nuclei.
What is the amount of fissionable material required to continue a reaction at a constant rate?
The amount of fissionable material required to sustain a nuclear reaction at a constant rate is determined by the material's critical mass. The critical mass is the minimum amount of fissionable material needed to sustain a chain reaction, and it varies depending on the material and the reactor design. By controlling factors such as neutron moderation and absorption, reactor operators can adjust the critical mass to maintain a steady reaction rate.
What is the term that is used to describe a key factor required to start a fission reaction?
The term is "critical mass." It refers to the minimum amount of fissionable material, such as uranium or plutonium, required to sustain a chain reaction in a nuclear reactor or bomb.
What is the difference between 'fissile material' and 'fissionable material'?
Fissile material refers to substances that can sustain a nuclear chain reaction upon absorbing a slow neutron, such as uranium-235 and plutonium-239. In contrast, fissionable material includes any substance capable of undergoing fission, which can occur with either slow or fast neutrons; this category encompasses both fissile materials and those that require fast neutrons to undergo fission, like uranium-238. Thus, all fissile materials are fissionable, but not all fissionable materials are fissile.
What is meant by supercritical and how does it relate to making a nuclear bomb?
A subcritical mass cannot sustain a nuclear chain reaction, it dies exponentiallyA critical mass can sustain a nuclear chain reaction, but it remains constant neither increasing nor decreasingA supercritical mass not only sustains a nuclear chain reaction but it increases exponentially until the mass explodesA nuclear fission bomb must become supercritical at some time in order to explode.
Critical mass is the of material required to produce a chain reaction?
minimum amount
Is it true or false that the only isotopes that can be used as fuel in a nuclear power plant are those in which a chain reaction can occur?
True, only fissionable isotopes that produce enough excess neutrons to sustain a chain reaction can be used directly as fuel.However fertile isotopes that capture neutrons and then transmute to fissionable isotopes can be used indirectly as fuel through a process called breeding.
What is meant by supercritical andhow dose it relate to making a nuclear bomb?
subcritical - a mass or arrangement of fissionable or fissile material unable to sustain a neutron chain reaction. It can provide a fixed amount of neutron multiplication from a neutron source, but after removal of the neutron source the chain reaction rate drops exponentially.critical - a mass or arrangement of fissionable or fissile material capable of sustaining a constant neutron chain reaction. No increase or decrease. (Nuclear reactors operate at critical)supercritical - a mass or arrangement of fissionable or fissile material capable of not only sustaining a neutron chain reaction, but once initiated the chain reaction rate rises exponentially. (Nuclear fission bombs explode when made supercritical)A nuclear fission bomb must have 2 of these states: subcritical (so that it can't explode until desired) and supercritical (so that it explodes with an effective yield). This requires a rapid "assembly" system using conventional explosives to rearrange the fissile material from subcritical to supercritical in about 1ms. A neutron source starts the chain reaction and the explosion completes in about 1 microsecond.
Critical mass depends on what?
The Purity && The Shape AND size density
Atoms that naturally undergo nuclear fissions are called?
These are called fissile or fissionable. Fissile isotopes undergo fission, producing sufficient neutrons of sufficient power that a chain reaction can happen, if there is enough of the isotope to support it. The mass sufficient to support a chain reaction is called critical. Atoms of fissionable isotopes will undergo fission when a sufficiently energetic neutron collides with them, but the neutrons they emit when they divide are either insufficient in number or insufficient in energy to sustain an chain reaction. There is a third type of material that can undergo fission, called fertile, which is isotopes that can be caused to capture neutrons, changing into fissile or fissionable isotopes, so the fission does not happen to atoms of the fertile material directly, but to the atoms of the isotopes they become.
Who was the first person to sustain a fissionable chain reaction?
This was first achieved in the Chicago pile, 1942. Enrico Fermi was the team leader.
