Physics

[little me]

Is anyone any good at nuclear and particle physics and could explain it in simple terms? Please help a very distressed little me!!!!

[Moby-Dick]

what about it ?
/me tried to dredge up his A level knowledge circa 1994

[Auran]

I should be able to help if you give a brief summary of the areas that you want clarified. Nuclear and particle physics cover a very large range of theories.

[Lead_Head]

little me
Registered User


Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: HMP Welbeck

?

[Angus]

HMP Welbeck = Defence Sixth Form College

www.welbeck.ac.uk

[TeePee]

What level of knowledge do you need?

Everything around you is made up of atoms, little round balls that are the building blocks of everything else. They are made of Neutrons, Protons and Electrons.

Or do you need something a little more technical, like why they aren't really balls, and what the strong nuclear force does?

How about k-electron capture?

Are you wanting GCSE, A-level or degree level?

[lynni]

So which house are u in little me?

What are u there for? it looks really scary

[TeePee]

If you're at sixth form college I'm going to assume roughly an 'A'Level standard.. Apologies if this is too basic.

As I said before, the things around us are made up of building blocks called atoms, which are themselves made of neutrons protons and electrons. Different elements have different numbers of these particles, in fact, that's why they are different elements! The neutrons and protons are all smooshed together (by that strong nuclear force I mentioned earlier) in the centre of an atom, called the nucleus, while the electrons orbit around the outside, like a spaceship around the Earth. They stay attached to the atom because protrons have a positive electroststic charge, while electrons have a negative charge, and this sets up an attraction between the positive and negative charges. I'm going to assume now that by nuclear physics you mean Nuclear Fission and Fusion reactions which are common A Level topics. Nuclear Fission is the process in which an atom breaks apart to leave atoms of different elements. A nuclear reactor uses isotopes of very large and heavy elements such as Uranium. These atoms are bombarded with low-energy neutrons, which cause the atoms to break up. This causes energy to be released, since the sum of the masses of the fragments is less than the mass of the original atom and for elements heavier than iron this will yield energy (E=mc^2). Elements lighter than iron can be forced together to yield energy, and this is called nuclear fusion. The best science on Earth has not yet succeeded in achieving this, but the most successful atempts have used isotopes of hydrogen called Deuterium and Tritium. These fuse to form hydrogen.

Is this the kind of thing you need? Radioactive decay?

[little me]

Well, I'm doing A-level. I need to know what the function of the lithium-bearing blanket surrounding the reactor core in a fusion reactor is, apart from to absorb the neutrons which have a lot of kinetic energy.

I'm in Stirling House at Welbeck and I'm there because I had a mental lapse and didn't know what I was letting myself in for!!! Well, no it's because I want to be an army officer!

[TeePee]

Off the top of my head Uranium 235 will only decay if it can absorb a slow moving neutron. the blanket is there to slow the neutrons down in order to increase the chances of that happening.

[fondie]

It was never taught to me while i was doing physics, it's a fairly specialised engineering field really, but it's other purpose is to replensih tritrium, more information here :-

http://www-fusion-magnetique.cea.fr/...rtures/blk.htm

and

http://www.psfc.mit.edu/library/onli...01/blanket.pdf

or search about for 'breeding blankets for fusion'

Bob

[shiato storm]

my god! people actually WANT to join the army? ... well, each to their own i suppose

[TeePee]

You said fusion, I'm dumb!

OK in a fusion reaction, the product is a helium nucleus and a single neutron which carry's masses of energy with it. This escapes the fusion chamber and is caught in the blanket, depositing it's energy. The lithium can then be used in a heat exchanger and power generation. It also helps absorb other radiation from the reactor.

I guess it's only other function is tritium breeding, but if this is A Level stuff I am in awe!

[Angus]

double post - mods please delete

[Angus]

my god! people actually WANT to join the army? ... well, each to their own i suppose

Not really

But there's sometimes some financial bribery

[Rave]

My Mum's a Physics teacher, so if you can wait a couple of days I should be able to answer most queries for you although <boast mode> I got an A at A-Level meself</end boast>.

Rich :¬)