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So I am reading a book "Fundamentals of Nuclear reactor physics" by Elmer E. Lewis
On page 37 it talks about neutron interactions. some sentences I feel are left a bit short so let me rephrase here and hopefully get a clear answer.
We have a neutron with a given kinetic energy and bunch of atoms around it. Now one of the following things might happen upon that neutron striking a nucleus
1) Neutron gets scattered, where the scattering can be either
a) Elastic
b) Inelastic
2) Neutron gets absorbed by the nucleusSo my take is that the elastic scattering is when the neutron hits a nucleus but instead of having any interaction with it just changes course and maintains it's kinetic energy , the nucleus is left as is.(this is the impression i got from what was written in the book although it seems weird to me that one side can be left unaffected in a collision)
In inelastic scattering the neutron imparts some of its kinetic energy to the nucleus , the neutron flies off with a lower kinetic energy while the nucleus is now excited and releases energy as gamma rays and gives off a neutron (according ton the book) Is this the case and if it is could you give me an example reaction where this happens and can this happen with any nucleus or are there only certain nucleus that respond in this manner?
And lastly absorption reactions are where the neutron is absorbed by the nucleus creating a different isotope from a previous isotope like U 236 from U 235, which will then later decay to other elements?
Can a stable nucleus with an atomic number lower than lead also absorb a neutron?thanks
On page 37 it talks about neutron interactions. some sentences I feel are left a bit short so let me rephrase here and hopefully get a clear answer.
We have a neutron with a given kinetic energy and bunch of atoms around it. Now one of the following things might happen upon that neutron striking a nucleus
1) Neutron gets scattered, where the scattering can be either
a) Elastic
b) Inelastic
2) Neutron gets absorbed by the nucleusSo my take is that the elastic scattering is when the neutron hits a nucleus but instead of having any interaction with it just changes course and maintains it's kinetic energy , the nucleus is left as is.(this is the impression i got from what was written in the book although it seems weird to me that one side can be left unaffected in a collision)
In inelastic scattering the neutron imparts some of its kinetic energy to the nucleus , the neutron flies off with a lower kinetic energy while the nucleus is now excited and releases energy as gamma rays and gives off a neutron (according ton the book) Is this the case and if it is could you give me an example reaction where this happens and can this happen with any nucleus or are there only certain nucleus that respond in this manner?
And lastly absorption reactions are where the neutron is absorbed by the nucleus creating a different isotope from a previous isotope like U 236 from U 235, which will then later decay to other elements?
Can a stable nucleus with an atomic number lower than lead also absorb a neutron?thanks
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