What makes Uranium-235 ideal for nuclear fission? Why not use another element all together?
In: Physics
A istope is fissile if when they absorb a neutron they go into fusion and not all element are fissile. Some element are fertile, meaning that if they absorb a neutron, they become fissile. Those could be used in a nuclear reactor, but you need twice the amount of neutron to sustain the reaction and so there is a big chance that the reaction will stop by itself. In Nuclear reactor the point is that the reaction produce more neutron than you need to create more fusion, so the reaction is self-sustaining. It would be like having a fire that you need to constantly restart, not very good to produce energy.
But most of element just become radiactive if they absorb a neutron, they don’t go into fusion at all. You need an element that is heavy enough.
Finally, uranium can be found in nature, meaning that you can have a good amount of the stuff at a relatively low price.
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