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)
In: 72
There’s a variety of ways, one method is using beryllium and an alpha emitter such as radium, once the alpha particle from the radium interacts with the beryllium it then releases a free neutron (a neutron not inside an atom)
“Irradiation of beryllium with alpha particles results in complex nuclei formed by absorption of the alpha particles by 9Be nuclei. These complex nuclei are highly excited and a neutron is emitted almost instantaneously (within approximately one billionth of a second).”
[Article if your interested ](https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/neutron-source#:~:text=Irradiation%20of%20beryllium%20with%20alpha,one%20billionth%20of%20a%20second).)
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