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Reactions with neutrons are important in nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. While the best-known neutron reactions are neutron scattering, neutron capture, and nuclear fission, for some light nuclei (especially odd-odd nuclei) the most probable reaction with a thermal neutron is a transfer reaction:
A thermal neutron is a free neutron with a kinetic energy of about 0.025 eV (about 4.0×10 −21 J or 2.4 MJ/kg, hence a speed of 2.19 km/s), which is the energy corresponding to the most probable speed at a temperature of 290 K (17 °C or 62 °F), the mode of the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution for this temperature, E peak = k T.
The energy of these rays is sometimes sufficient to start photonuclear reactions resulting in emitted neutrons. One such reaction, 14 7 N (γ,n) 13 7 N, is the only natural process other than those induced by cosmic rays in which 13 7 N is produced on Earth. The unstable isotopes remaining from the reaction may subsequently emit positrons by β ...
In this sense, neutron activation is a non-destructive analysis method. Neutron activation analysis can be done in situ. For example, aluminium (Al-27) can be activated by capturing relatively low-energy neutrons to produce the isotope Al-28, which decays with a half-life of 2.3 minutes with a decay energy of 4.642 MeV. [15]
Low-energy nuclear reactions are the basis of neutron production in accelerator-driven sources. The selected targetmaterials are based on the energy levels; lighter metals such as lithium (Li) and beryllium (Be) can be used toachieve their maximum possible reaction rate under 30 MeV, while heavier elements such as tungsten (W) and carbon (C ...
) and a neutron (n). The IBD reaction can only be initiated when the antineutrino possesses at least 1.806 MeV [3] [4] of kinetic energy (called the threshold energy). This threshold energy is due to a difference in mass between the products (e + and n) and the reactants (ν e and p) and also slightly due to a relativistic mass effect on the ...
Since the energy of a thermal neutron is relatively low, charged particle reactions are discrete (i.e., essentially monoenergetic and lie within a narrow bandwidth of energies) while other reactions such as gamma reactions will span a broad energy range, it is possible to discriminate among the sources.
The two types of beta decay are known as beta minus and beta plus.In beta minus (β −) decay, a neutron is converted to a proton, and the process creates an electron and an electron antineutrino; while in beta plus (β +) decay, a proton is converted to a neutron and the process creates a positron and an electron neutrino. β + decay is also known as positron emission.