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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:
Nuclear chemistry is the sub-field of chemistry dealing with radioactivity, nuclear processes, and transformations in the nuclei of atoms, such as nuclear transmutation and nuclear properties. It is the chemistry of radioactive elements such as the actinides , radium and radon together with the chemistry associated with equipment (such as ...
Chain reactions were known in chemistry before physics, and in fact many familiar processes like fires and chemical explosions are chemical chain reactions. The fission or "nuclear" chain-reaction, using fission-produced neutrons, is the source of energy for nuclear power plants and fission-type nuclear bombs, such as those detonated in ...
This is known as a nuclear chain reaction. To control such a nuclear chain reaction, control rods containing neutron poisons and neutron moderators are able to change the portion of neutrons that will go on to cause more fission. [14] Nuclear reactors generally have automatic and manual systems to shut the fission reaction down if monitoring or ...
Fission reactions and subsequent neutron escape happen very quickly; this is important for nuclear weapons, where the objective is to make a nuclear pit release as much energy as possible before it physically explodes. Most neutrons emitted by fission events are prompt: they are emitted effectively instantaneously.
Nuclear power is a type of nuclear technology involving the controlled use of nuclear fission to release energy for work including propulsion, heat, and the generation of electricity. Nuclear energy is produced by a controlled nuclear chain reaction which creates heat—and which is used to boil water, produce steam, and drive a steam turbine.
The stability of atomic nuclei of different sizes and composition (i.e. numbers of neutrons and protons) plays an important role in the possible reactions among nuclei. Cosmic nucleosynthesis, therefore, is studied among researchers of astrophysics and nuclear physics ("nuclear astrophysics").
A fission nuclear power plant is generally composed of: a nuclear reactor, in which the nuclear reactions generating heat take place; a cooling system, which removes the heat from inside the reactor; a steam turbine, which transforms the heat into mechanical energy; an electric generator, which transforms the mechanical energy into electrical ...