Nuclear reactions

Using the strong nuclear force

to produce useful energy

Physics 100
Chapt 25 part b
 Strong Nuclear Force
It is very strong
It overcomes the electrical repulsion
between positively charged protons that
are only 10-15m apart.
It acts over a very short range
It is not felt by nucleons when they are
more than 10-15m apart.
It is selective
It is felt by neutrons & protons, but not
by electrons
 Nuclear bullets
Protons are repelled by electrical the repulsion force
of the positively nucleus. Only protons with KE of
a few MeV or more can get within the range of the
strong nuclear force & produce nuclear reactions

++ +
F + + ++
+ v + ++
+ ++
Producing nuclear reactions
+ + +
with protons (or any other
charged nuclei) is a challenge
++ +
 Neutron induced nuclear reactions
Neutrons dont feel the electrical force so even very
slow, low-energy neutrons can strike the nucleus &
produce nuclear reactions

++ +
+ + ++
v
+ ++
+ ++
+ + +
++ +
Low energy neutrons are
effective nuclear bullets
 Nuclear fission

n+ U
235
92
142
56 Ba + Kr + 2n
92
36
Energy balance in a fission reaction

141
Ba +
92
Kr + 2n

200 MeV KE heat

235
U+n
 Chain reaction
Use the neutrons produced by one
fission to initiate another fission Enrico Fermi
 Requirements for A-bomb
Fissionable material: U or 239Pu
235

Critical mass

Mechanism
Critical Mass

Mcrit

Enriched U 50kg
235

239
Pu 10kg
 Fissionable Material
Fortunately, only certain nuclear isotopes undergo the
fission process:

235 U only 0.7% of naturally occurring U

(99.3% is 238U, which doesnt fission)

239 Pu doesnt occur naturally, but is produced

in nuclear reactors

. There are other fissionable isotopes, e.g. 233 U&

232Th, but they are very rare
Little boy ( U)235

(doughnut-like)
Fat man ( Pu)
239
Devastation

Hiroshima Aug 6 1945 8:15AM

80,000 people killed immediately;

~100,000 people were exposed to

lethal radiation & died painful slow
deaths
Hiroshima aftermath
Devastation

Nagasaki Aug 9 1945 10:45AM

39,000 people killed immediately;

~70,000 people were exposed to

lethal radiation & died painful slow
deaths
Nagasaki aftermath
 Nuclear fusion
Here the nuclei have to start out
Two light nuclei fuse together
with large energy in order to
to form
overcome the aelectrical
heavierrepulsion
one

2
H + 3H 4He + n
Energy balance in a fusion reaction

He+n
4

12.3 MeV KE heat

2
H +3H
 Need to overcome electric
repulsion
Protons need ~2MeV
energy to get within
10-15 m of each other
(where strong nuclear
+
force can be felt)

+ This requires super-high

temperatures (several
Million degrees). Such high
temperatures exist in the
core of the Sun or in an
Atomic-Bomb explosion
 H-bomb: powered by nuclear fusion

Nuclear fusion bomb

Nuclear fission bomb detonator

produces the high temperature
required to initiate fusion processes
 Brighter than 1000 suns
1000 times the power of an A-bomb!!
Dangers of teaching nuclear physics

Oh, and I
suppose it was
me who said
what harm could
it be to give the
chickens a book
on nuclear
physics?
Fusion in the Sun
The core temperature
is ~14 million degrees

Here a tiny fraction

of the protons have
enough thermal energy
to undergo fusion
 Solar
fusion
processes

+ 1.4 MeV

+ 5.5 MeV

+ 12.9 MeV
 pp-cycle

6 protons 4He + 2 protons + 2 positrons + 2neutrinos

Energy balance in the pp-cycle

He
4

25 MeV KE heat
4 protons
+ 2 neutrinos
How do we know what goes on
inside the Sun?
Superkamiokande
Superkamiokande
 Direction of neutrinos
detected in Superkamiokande
Sun as seen by a neutrino detector
Neutrinos come directly from solar
core
Neutrinos are everywhere