During fission an atom is split apart into other things including neutrons. I know this starts a chain reaction because more neutrons are produced, but how is the first neutron (or group of neutrons) obtained and launched?
In: 2
You use some external neutron source. It can be a material that spontaneously emit neutrons from radioactive decay. It can also be from [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_fission](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_fission) Natural Th-232, U235 and U-238 can spontaneously go trough fission you do not need to hit them with neutrons, it just does not happen that often
A way is to use an element that emits alpha radiation and let it hit an element that when hit by it releases nurone radiation. You can for example use polonium that you can make or naturally find in uranium ore ( pitchblende). The target can be beryllium, boron, or lithium, This is how neurons was discovered back in 1931,
If you have a pellet with beryllium separated from polonium with layers of nickel and gold you have something that will emit neutrons when you crush it and the material mix. This is the general idea of how you generate neutrons at the exact right moment in time in early nuclear bombs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modulated_neutron_initiator#Urchin
Another way is by using fusion. Fusion is not hard to achieve you can accelerate ionized hydrogen with electrical field and high deuterium or tritium and the result is fusion with release neutrons. This was fist shown in the 1930 and was how fusion was shown to work. You can do that is quite small device, the simplest Neutristor fits in your closed fist, and something similar are used to trigger modern nukes. It is not a way to make a power plant because the electrical energy required is more than the energy the fusion energy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron_generator
There is other way too to you can read about it at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron_source
Latest Answers