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After prompt fission neutron emission the residual fragments are still neutron rich and undergo a beta decay chain. The more neutron rich the fragment, the more energetic and faster the beta decay. In some cases the available energy in the beta decay is high enough to leave the residual nucleus in such a highly excited state that neutron ...
In nuclear engineering, a prompt neutron is a neutron immediately emitted by a nuclear fission event. Prompt neutrons emerge from the fission of an unstable fissionable or fissile heavy nucleus almost instantaneously. Delayed neutron decay can occur within the same context, emitted after beta decay of one of the fission products.
In nuclear engineering, a delayed neutron is a neutron emitted after a nuclear fission event, by one of the fission products (or actually, a fission product daughter after beta decay), any time from a few milliseconds to a few minutes after the fission event. Neutrons born within 10 −14 seconds of the fission are termed "prompt neutrons".
A table or chart of nuclides is a two-dimensional graph of isotopes of the elements, in which one axis represents the number of neutrons (symbol N) and the other represents the number of protons (atomic number, symbol Z) in the atomic nucleus. Each point plotted on the graph thus represents a nuclide of a known or hypothetical chemical element.
A subcritical mass is a mass that does not have the ability to sustain a fission chain reaction. A population of neutrons introduced to a subcritical assembly will exponentially decrease. In this case, known as subcriticality, k < 1. A critical mass is a mass of fissile material that self-sustains a fission chain reaction.
The values of the neutron drip line are only known for the first ten elements, hydrogen to neon. [19] For oxygen (Z = 8), the maximal number of bound neutrons is 16, rendering 24 O the heaviest particle-bound oxygen isotope. [20] For neon (Z = 10), the maximal number of bound neutrons increases to 24 in the heaviest particle-stable isotope 34 ...
This process may also cause the production of further subatomic particles, such as neutrons. Neutrons can also be produced in spontaneous fission and by neutron emission. These neutrons can then go on to produce other nuclides via neutron-induced fission, or by neutron capture. For example, some stable isotopes such as neon-21 and neon-22 are ...
In nuclear engineering, prompt criticality describes a nuclear fission event in which criticality (the threshold for an exponentially growing nuclear fission chain reaction) is achieved with prompt neutrons alone and does not rely on delayed neutrons. As a result, prompt supercriticality causes a much more rapid growth in the rate of energy ...