how does one “obtain” neutrons to fire at atomic nuclei?

Question

so, i get that atoms can be split by colliding with neutrons, but how does one get a singular neutron?

In: 2

Answer 1

You don’t “get” a single neutron. You have some radioactive element that’s emitting neutrons and you place a bit of it it next to a bit of the radioactive element you want to split, and the neutrons will have some probability of hitting the atoms and splitting the. You can alter that probability by changing the shape, size, and distance, of the 2 materials, and also what materials they’re in (i.e., are they in air, water…etc).