In the experiment that was performed that initially split the atom, the explanation goes that you take a neutron and fire it into a heavy, unstable element like U-238 which splits into more neutrons and releases some energy etc etc etc.
We’ve all heard it.
However it seems to miss the part around how you obtain the initial neutrons. As far as I’m aware they don’t occur naturally on their own, so how did they obtain enough of them to split the atom in the experiment?
(I’m aware that for the bomb they combine too lumps of U238 to create a super critical mass, however I’m more interested in the initial experiment)
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Back in the day, scientists used a mixture of beryllium sulfate and radium sulfate. Radium is an alpha radiation emitter, and Beryllium releases neutrons when shot with alpha particles. The sulfates are used because they are powders and mix better than the pure metals.
This is actually the method James Chadwick used when he discovered the neutron.
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