Chain Reaction and Critical Mass

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Period 5 April 26 2013 Chain Reaction and Critical Mass The reaction of a nuclear weapon happens through a chain reaction. When a neutron collides with an element like uranium it splits and two or three new neutrons are created. Then the newly created neutrons collide with other uranium nuclei causing a fission reaction. Nuclear fission is an important nuclear reaction. It releases a huge amount of energy and all the neutrons released cause fission with the other surrounding nuclei of uranium-253, and this is what causes a chain reaction. After the fission process has started it has to continue the release of energy to create a big enough reaction. The results depend on how many neutrons actually collide with uranium-253, and how many pass to the surrounding area without colliding with the nuclei. There are three different things that could happen, in a subcritical process if there are only three uranium nuclei present and only one or two actually fission then the process soon dies out. The critical process requires that one neutron from each fission process produces only one more fission process. This way is more controlled and happens at a steady pace. A supercritical process is when each fission process produces more than one neutron and each neutron causes only fission processes. This process produces rapidly and becomes uncontrollable causing an explosion to happen. The critical mass is the amount of fissionable material needed to sustain a nuclear chain reaction at the critical level. If the mass is subcritical then the mass is too small and slowly stops. If the mass is supercritical the chain reaction multiplies and a nuclear explosion is the

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