Nuclear Definition and 997 Threads

Homework Statement Two protons in an atomic nucleus are typically separated by a distance of 2x10-15 m. The electric repulsion force between the protons is huge, but the attractive nuclear force is even stronger and keeps the nucleus from bursting apart. What is the magnitude of the electric...

Please explain Nuclear Magnetic resonance and how it is applied to other fields? I know it has to do with magnetic field around atoms and stuff like spectroscopy and imaging. But please correct me and please go in dept with Nuclear magnetic resonance.

Hello everyone, I have a question about nuclear fusion. The simplest form of nuclear fusion is the fusion of 4 hydrogen atoms into 1 helium atom. Jupiter has a mass close to 1.9 * 1027 kg and around 90% of its mass consists out of hydrogen -> 0.9 * 1.9 * 10 27 = 1.71 * 1027 kg. I know that it...

Homework Statement Th-232 ---> He-4 + Ra-228 + energy How much is the energy? Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution my solution is this: [m(Th-232)-90m(electron)] - m(He-4) - [8m(Ra-228)-88m(electron)] My book skipped the electrons, why?

Hi guys, I do apologize if this thread is in the incorrect place.. Long story short, I'm doing a university project based on developing an AI to control the power plant energy output. From my research so far, I've concluded that the control rods control the fission rate. The problem is, I for...

Hi Everyone, I've scoured the internet to find answers to this question and I haven't had much luck. I graduated in 2014 with a 2.86 GPA in physics. To counteract this lower gpa in my applications; I have a lot of research experience and I'm currently working in industry doing some...

I am preparing a couple questions for the Nuclear Engineering forum, about nuclear weapons. During the past few weeks, I've been reading a number of interesting articles and books, most notably "The Goldsboro Broken Arrow" by Joel Dobson, and a number of articles reported through the book and in...

Hi all, I'm a science-fiction/fantasy writer who is in the midst of outlining a distant-future (10,000+ years) story. The main parts of it I can handle (humans on Earth have gone through a cycle of Intellectual --> Dark ages with the current era being a kind of pinnacle never again achieved)...

Hi! I'm a high school student and I want to get into nuclear and particle physics. So, I would like some suggestions on good quality books on the topic. If it helps to know, I have self-studied mechanics (D. Morin), electromagnetism (Purcell and Morin), thermodynamics (Sears and Zemanski), but...

Hello, I'm a freshman in college, currently dual majoring in Nuclear Engineering and Physics. Recently, it has been brought to my attention that to secure an internship in the nuclear (or some physics) fields, I would need to obtain level L security clearance with the DOE, and further on to get...

I'm in my last semester of my Nuclear Engineering B.S. at Michigan and looking at M.S. programs. The main schools I'm looking at are University of Michigan (already applied), NC State (already applied), University of Tennessee (accepted upon receipt of degree confirmation, final marks, and...

In 1958, chemical operator Cecil Kelley was killed by a nuclear excursion in a mixing tank. A tank intended to reprocess trace amounts of dissolved plutonium-239 accidentally had dramatically more radioactive material dumped into it. The plutonium, being dissolved in a lower-density fluid than...

Hello I was reading this post, https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/nuclear-decay-of-a-small-number-of-atoms-calculation.853664/ and I wander if the binomial distribution is still a good model if you have a small amount of nuclei, and in addition they can decay by different processes (each...

Homework Statement In a particular nuclear reaction, a neutron moving at 3.6×105ms−1 has a 70% chance of initiating a nuclear fusion reaction. Which of the following options is a possible probability of a neutron moving at 2.2×105ms−1 initiating the same nuclear reaction? I wouldn't be asking...

Homework Statement A stationary nucleus undergoes radioactive decay. A beta particle and a neutrino are detected leaving the nucleus. What is the recoil velocity of the remaining nucleus? If the recoil velocity measured is significantly different from the calculated velocity, what conclusion...

I came across a rather dubious question that a teacher had put in a power point. It said something like,"Given a sample of 100 atoms of isotope x, after one half life of the said isotope, how many atoms of the original isotope will be left?" My answer was that it was a trick question because...

Hi All, I have a situation were I need to evaluate the heat transfer coefficient of a horizontal surface. The surface has tubes within although I first used "flow across a bank of tubes", this has been untrue due to the air flow coming from above the surface flowing vertically (and...

I do think that the idea I had recently and one that I have been pondering about since is something mundane. Specifically because its so simple. Yet its an abstract one that I would like to know more about it from someone who can take the time to think about it and write a paragraph or two. In...

I would like to share this recent article by Linda Gunter: http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/12/11/the-false-promise-of-nuclear-fusion/Are renewables really the future of an increasingly energy hungry human civilization, as mentioned by Linda? Or can we use HITACHI's PRISM reactors to solve the...

Hello everyone and happy new year! I would like to ask why it takes so long to create nuclear fusion power plants. The world's first nuclear fission power plant to generate electricity was started in 1954, some nine years after the nuclear fission bomb was detonated. Now we are more than 50...

Are there any good models, software or codes that can predict the probabilities of nuclear reactions where an atom of a given type strikes another atom of another type with a given energy? Or is this information only obtainable experimentally? To further clarify, I am interested determining...

And where does he work? University, industry or government?

PF, I am a junior physics major hoping to work in nuclear engineering. The problem is that I would like to stay in school to get a PhD. I have a love of learning. However, I would like to get a Master's degree to start working and making a living earlier. I would not like to work in academia...

Hello everyone, When I look at the isotope lists, I always see only one nuclear spin for a specific isotope. (Why) can't an isotope have different nuclear spin types that are stable? I know metastable isotopes exist, but I am asking about the stable isotopes. Can't there be a case where the...

When a nucleus gamma decays, the gamma has its intrinsic spin of ##1\hbar##, but it can also carry away a significant amount of angular momentum in addition to that. Quadrupole radiation is very common, and in exceptional cases you can even get gammas with 5 or ##10\hbar##. Now suppose I do the...

this question might be a bit stupid, but if the plasma in the fusion reactor has very high temperature, then how do we make the chamber not melt? i mean, not to join? contact? each other(chamber wall and plasma). do we use magnetic field to make the distance? then how do we do that?

Hello, I live not really far from Sankt Peterburg(Russia) and yesterday there was accident, where radioactive gas leaked from reactor. They told those gases headed straight to Finland and Estonia, but in these such of accidents truth is never told for people. Like... let's remember Japan...

Homework Statement The half life T½ of Carbon-14 is 5730 years. What is its decay constant? After what length of time will 35% of an initial sample of Carbon-14 remain? Homework Equations Decay constant λ= 0.693 / T½ Where N = amount of radioactive substance, N=N0e-λt The Attempt at a...

Recently, I have been looking into more effective methods of harnessing nuclear power and making an attempt to move away from conventional steam plants and the use of turbines, thus reducing heat losses, maintenance and construction costs, etc. That being said, my current concept uses a...

First of all, this is my first post here, so hello everyone! Great to be a part of this online community! Secondly, to get to the point of the thread, I have recently applied and have been accepted to two master's programs in Germany, specifically Biomedical Engineering and Nuclear Applications...

Hi! I was reading this article about the possibility of detecting removals of "double-use" fissile materials from a known reactor using an antineutrino detector deployed in a truck "that uses 20 tons or less of scintillator material (and) could be fit into a 6-meter shipping container and parked...

Hello, I am a new member here at physics forums and find myself unsure of how to go about pursuing my career interest in nuclear fusion research, and if it is even something I should be pursuing at all. My goal is to some day work in fusion research, but everyone I have talked to about this...

I'm a Mechanical Engineering student here in Australia, having lived here my entire life. I'm finishing up my last topic in second year over the summer/Christmas holidays and have spent the last 12 months working for a gas/energy startup (are we still a startup now we're listed?) as a junior...

I read that this I/O board is for WSD scale, what is that? I searched in google for WSD scale got something that got to do with librarians, so I assume that it's off track; so what is its usage?

I created a diagram on nuclear reactors to advocate for the use of it. Tell me if you see anything I should change.

I've been researching and I came across the Strong Nuclear Force. This is apparently the strongest force ever, and only occurs in nuclei at an atomic scale. Now, when a nucleus becomes to big, radiation will occur to decrease its size and return it to a stable state. Does radiation occur...

I read a very interesting article about this u235 deposit found in Africa. Everything I have read about it suggest that some of the components needed for this to naturally occur can not exist without human intervention. The water involved in the nuclear reaction must be extremely pure. Even a...

Dear PF Forum, I'm interested in environment. And I want to know about nuclear power plant waste. In fission reaction: Neutron + U235 -> Kr 92 + 141 Ba + 3 free neutrons. What is the radioactive waste in fission power? Is it in the result Kr92 and 141 Barium? Is it in the 3 free neutrons? Where...

suggest some top universities in India and abroad for nuclear physics

I just finished an article on the implications of separating Pu-240 from SNF. The implications are pissvly huge, but the article does not consider the technical issues for laser separation. I am familiar with the concept of resonance laser ionization. I am not aware of any real initiative that...

Hi, On Wikipedia (here), we can find that in following channels of nuclear fusion reactions: H-2 + H-3 -> He-4 (3.5 MeV) + n (14.1 Mev) H-2 + H-2 -> H-3 (1.01 MeV) + H-1 (3.02 MeV) H-2 + H-2 -> He-3 (0.82 MeV) + n (2.45 MeV) H-2 + He-3 -> He-4 (3.6 MeV) + H-1 (14.7 MeV) The released energy is...

Homework Statement What initial mass of 23592U is required to operate a 350 MW reactor for 3 yrs? Assume 46% efficiency. Homework Equations I used Mass* C* efficiency as a decimal= power (e^-6) * time (in seconds) and got 800 as the mass, however, this was incorrect The Attempt at a...

Hi guys. I'm a mechanical engineer, due to graduate this year if everything goes according to plan. I'm considering doing a masters in nuclear engineering (first honours then masters of course). Now, I not sure how useful this will be, or even if it will be of any advantage at all. The work is...

Why are nuclear plants operate in a secondary steam engine for electrical conversion from nuclear energy, wherein thermal efficiency is less 30% in comparison to direct conversion which should be higher than30%? Is it not possible that nuclear reaction can produce direct electricity?

If it does, why is that so?

I am familiar with the proton:neutron ratio and stability but what about this instability actually causes a quark to emit a boson and change flavour? And what does this have to do with the weak nuclear force? Thanks

I was wondering if you could use a very strong magnetic field to produce nuclear fusion. The basic idea is a spherical cavity containing Deuterium (and possibly tritium) nuclei whose walls will be electromagnets whose fields slowly increase in strength and will repel the nuclei and thus the ball...

Two weeks ago a study claiming a Fukushima thyroid-cancer epidemic made headline news. The epidemic is being associated with the nuclear disaster. However, the study may be seriously flawed. Here are two informed critiques (please post more if found)...

Hey guys, I'm working on a homework problem about nuclear fusion in stars and am..stuck on the first step: calculating the temperature needed for protons to come within 2 fm of one another and overcome Coulomb repulsion. 1. Homework Statement Given that the protons have an average kinetic...

Despite the similar nature of charges,protons remain inside the nuclear dimension.why?