Nuclear Definition and 997 Threads

I am currently in a high school IB student with Physics, Chemistry and Maths as HL. I want to take up a career in nuclear engineering but not as a researcher instead I want to solve real life problems and work in a power plant or a shipyard which makes nuclear-powered submarines and ships. I...

I'm having trouble understand a passage in our book. The author claims that the reaction ##^2H+^2H \to ^4He + \gamma## is unlikely since the ##Q## value is large (##23.8## MeV) which happens to be greater than both the neutron and proton separation energies. This seem very counter intuitive...

I know that to achieve fusion one has to satisfy the Lawson criterion. My question is: can fusion be achieved only by generating very high pressures but keeping the system at room temperature, or does it necessarily require a combination of both high pressures and high temperatures? If by some...

To everyone reading this, hello. I'm obviously new but bursting with interest in nuclear plant design. I already have six years of experience in Naval nuclear power plant operation and maintenance, so if anyone can clue me into the wider world, I would be eternally grateful.

Now I'm familiar with how nuclear fission works to produce thermal energy and alpha/ beta/gamma radiation, but how do they work in the bomb? When is the high energy neutron fired into the uranium-235, and when does the chain reaction producing the heat begin? Why is it that there's a huge...

In a passage of our book (Krane page 141) they add two quadrupole phonons to a ##0^+## state. So as I understand it these phonon can be written in the form ##Y_{\lambda \mu}## with ##\lambda=2##. It makes sense that this corresponds to two units of angular momenta. Then they talk about the...

Hi everyone, I am new in here and also wondering on my career path. I graduated with associate in Network Administration/Analyst 2015 and realized I needed something highly technical with lot challenges, after my research I decided to enroll in the Nuclear Power Plant field hopping to become a...

I always wanted to ask a nuclear scientist about this. What are these weird wiggly thin lines we always see during a nuclear bomb detonation? If you look to the right side of the screen on the first video, they look like the "legs" of a fine whisky dribbling down a fine whisky glass. But what...

Dear all, I am looking for more information how specific activity \frac{Bq}{g} and surface activity \frac{Bq}{cm^2} is measured. This is done to determine whether the materials of interest can be treated as harmless and disposed as usual waste. I am interested how the experimental procedure...

Hello, I wish to ask, if a kind of nuclear attack would happen, what radiation would it be, how far and for how long? How can we know how the radioation amount would change with time? Many thanks!

What do you think? RU2563511 MICROBIOLOGICAL METHOD OF TRANSMUTATION OF CHEMICAL ELEMENTS AND CONVERSION OF ISOTOPES OF CHEMICAL ELEMENTS Viktor Kurashov, Tamara Sakhno SUBSTANCE: radioactive raw materials containing radioactive chemical elements or their isotopes, are treated with an aqueous...

Hello. I am currently just a 2nd year undergrad, with nuclear physics being my end goal for study. However, as of now, I cannot even open an entry-level nuclear energy textbook without being totally lost. So I am asking: what background is needed (in terms of courses, materials, etc.) in order...

HELLO PEOPLE! Sorry for the enthusiasm but, this is my first post. I am in the process of getting my masters in material science and engineering and I liked my nuclear materials course so I decided to jump right into the integration of mechanical systems in nuclear engineering this summer. I...

Is nuclear fusion fusion possible on Earth naturally or can it be possible in an Earth in a parallel universe??

When neutrons are fired at atoms, if at higher speeds they will behave as waves, wander through and scatter, (which can produce something similar to x-ray diffraction images), but if slowed to the right "thermal energy" speed, they will be captured by (say) U-235, making the U atom unstable...

Question 1. c) (ii) on this AQA paper... http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/subjects/AQA-PHYA5-1-QP-JUN13.PDF The solution is here http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/subjects/AQA-PHYA5C-W-MS-JUN13.PDF So I know that the binding energy will be the mass defect so the value of energy on the left hand side is...

What is not one of those fields? As long as a significant fraction of the population would agree to a law that bans atoms, ... [split from this thread: https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/stunning-reversal-in-sweden-re-nuclear.875103/ ]

http://www.thelocal.se/20160610/sweden-agrees-to-continue-nuclear-power In 1980, a national referendum in Sweden voted to abolish nuclear power. But they never did it. Only 1 of 11 nuclear plants was shut down. Now, in announcing a 100% renewable goal, the Swedish government 1) repealed a...

Its been a long time since I've studdied chemistry, I used to have a pretty decent understanding of it, but I've forgotten some of it. I remember that the energy produced from a fission reaction has to do with the number of bonds being broken, and that bonding energy released is obscenely high...

Hey everyone, I need some help choosing what Engineering program I should pursue. I'm in grade 12 right now and conflicted which engineering is the best in terms of job market, salary, and overall. The Engineering programs I'm considering are; Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, and...

Is there a short path to becoming a nuclear engineer if you have a B.S in physics? Can you get into grad school and specialize in nuclear engineering?

hi, I am a second year nuclear engineering student. can a nuclear engineer work in a particles accelerator, or in a synchrotron.If yes in what nuclear fields should I specify ?

<< Disclaimer by PF -- You may need to get government permits to operate a reactor that produces neutrons and radiation, and this could potentially be a dangerous project >> Hello, I recently finished building a functioning IEC fusion reactor and posted a video of its construction and...

Homework Statement Hi all, attempting to make a Method of Characteristics solver in Matlab. I'm particularly hoping that there are some computational nuclear engineering guys about who might have a bit of experience programming a simple version of one of these. I'm trying to create the solver...

Hello, How Nuclear power plant work?

Hi, I am struggling with a question where they want me to determine whether or not three different decay are allowed. From what I have understood all decays must follow a set of conservation law. These laws are: 1 Conservation of Baryon number 2 Conservation of Lepton number 3 Conservation of...

Can anyone please provide me information about the career as a nuclear physicists after B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering. is it a viable option?

Hi folks, IMO, it should be possible to initiate a nuclear fusion of H1-H2 and H2-H2 in crystals of Lithium Hydride induced by gamma photons emitted form decay of Na24. Could anyone please verify if the following is correct? By using nuclear photodisintegration effect, we need a gamma photon...

Hello all, Assume we have a deuterium-tritium reaction. The energy released is 17.6 MeV. I know from solved examples that neutrons carry 14.1 MeV and Helium carries 3.5 MeV. How do I calculate these numbers (14.1 MeV and 3.5 MeV)?

Homework Statement Ok, these questions are very simple but they are really bugging me and I would greatly appreciate an explanation. Question 1 is "which of the following elements must have been made in stars". The options are hydrogen, helium, carbon, oxygen and iron. Question 2 is "which of...

Homework Statement Not exactly a homework problem but I tried to predict the spin and parity of (the ground states of) ##^{89}Sr##,##^{97}Zr## and ##^{137}Ba## using the shell model and my results seem to differ from the tables. Homework Equations Parity ##\pi = (-1)^l## Figure 4 seems to...

This is a question about average light water reactors. I was wondering when the total becquerels of a spent fuel rod would equal the becquerels of that same fuel rod before it was used.

Hi, I want to test this radiation detector http://www.teviso.com/en/products/radiation-sensor-rd3024.htm The problem is we don't have strong nuclear radiation sources or even weak ones , can i mimic the radiation ?? For example can i use Microwave sources or RF field or other radiation sources...

Hi, As far as i know, when Co-59 is bombarded with neutron inside the reactor core then Co-60 is produced. What i want to know that what is the origin of the Co-59. Is it one of the products of nuclear fission? if it is so, can you show me the reaction of it. Or is it already exist in the...

Hello all. I am not a physicist and would probably be considered a "physics idiot" by people on this site, so please excuse any ignorance on my part. I am writing a book and need some help with the physics of nuclear weapons. For the purposes of my book, I am looking to have one of my...

The conventional commercial fission reactors use uranium-235 as fuel. Its cross section of (n, fission) reaction at thermal neutron is about 585 barns. My question is: Is there a known threshold of the cross section that makes a nuclear reaction not sustainable if the minimal cross section is...

All guys know the importance of cross section. In a sense, it stands for the possibility of a reaction. I am wondering how many barns above could make nuclear reaction rate almost 100%? Generally speaking, the cross section can span a couple of decades order of magnitude, e.g. 10^-10 to 10^6...

Hi PhysicsForums, I was hoping to get a little guidance on my chances for PhD programs. I am a second-semester junior. I feel like I'm going at this totally blind and am starting to get nervous, I'd mostly like to know how strong my credentials are so far, what kind of GRE score I might need...

Hello! I was just wondering what this community is aware of in the world of modern nuclear physics. To be specific, for my assignment I am asked to research a topic or issue that is related to nuclear physics (and has relations to our daily lives). Some examples provided are: The use of...

Missile Defense has been a big thing over the past decades to one day stop Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. (ICBMs)Today's Missile Defense system is limited and the only defense against ICBMs is Mutually Assured Destruction. But that may change in the future. Early programs like Nike Zeus...

Homework Statement The 3s state Na has an energy of -5.14 eV. Determine the effective nuclear charge. Homework Equations ##Z_{eff} = Z - s## Where Z is the atomic number and s is the number of shells in inner orbits. The Attempt at a Solution The textbook doesn't go into much more detail...

So I was thinking about ways to stop the nuclear bomb and I know enough to say that it is close to impossible to stop a nuclear bomb once it has detonated. So, the only time to stop it is before it explodes. What if we generated a magnetic field in which the protons and electrons within it would...

Hi, I was just watching "The Dark Knight Rises" and was reminded of a question I had about the end and Batman's flying the nuke outside Gotham where it exploded over the sea. We know tsunamis and even mega tsunamis can be produced by avalances, rock slides, and whatnot. My question is that if...

Had been talking NSWRs on a spaceflight forum and a thought occurred to me. Lithium-6 fission can be triggered with relatively low-energy neutrons and releases 4.78 MeV, a helium-4 atom, and a tritium atom. Without a neutron flux, however, lithium-6 is completely stable. With a small...

Hello All, I just got my B.S. in Physics and am now beginning a PhD program in Nuclear Engineering focusing on radiation detection using semiconductors. I very much enjoyed my Physics degree and want to stay in fundamental research for my career, in which case I would also say, I have no...

It appears in a end page of a book published in 1956, named as "Our Friend Atom", that describes the benefits of the atom. Here is the end page:

I admit before even posting, that i have no formal qualifications at all regarding any form of Science.. I am just a person with a very keen interest in various fields and eager to learn the answers! Im aware that this question might have been answered elsewhere, but my Question is Simple: Can...

After a nuclear explosion in the environment remains a lot of half-life of a radioactive isotope . Which of them pose the greatest danger to people , find themselves in the same place after a certain time ? why?

I'm reading about the interesting data that suggests a new heavy particle about 750 GeV. It talks about the energy being the mass times the velocity of light squared and is indicated by the two photons as the particles decay. I guess it's the same with this and a nuclear explosion which...

Hi everyone this is my first time posting here, First of all, excuse my english because here in Mtl we speak French mostly. My team and I are working on an university project in Montreal (Qc) Canada (Polytechnique) regarding the recycling of radioactive material waste. We are working on the...