Question

"Neutral Uranium does not undergo spontaneous fission inspite of the presence of Uranium-235 and the availability of neutrons."—Explain

Answer 1

Answer on #84655

Natural uranium is a mixture of isotopes consisting mainly of U-238 (99.3%) and U-235 (0.7%). Uranium 235 is capable of spontaneous fission, which results in the formation of fragmentation elements and from 1 to 8 neutrons (average 2.4). If a neutron enters on the next nucleus of U-235, it will subjected to forced fission with the formation of additional neutrons. Thus, a chain reaction of uranium decay is possible, but neutrons can be intercepted by U-238 nuclei that are not capable of fission, which leads to the attenuation of the process, since in natural uranium the main part of atomic nuclei - U-238 nuclei, in natural uranium chain fission is impossible.

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