Neutron Capture At Small Neutron Flux
At small neutron flux, as in a nuclear reactor, a single neutron is captured by a nucleus. For example, when natural gold (197Au) is irradiated by neutrons, the isotope 198Au is formed in a highly excited state, and quickly decays to the ground state of 198Au by the emission of γ rays. In this process, the mass number increases by one. This is written as a formula in the form 197Au+n → 198Au+γ, or in short form 197Au(n,γ)198Au. If thermal neutrons are used, the process is called thermal capture.
The isotope 198Au is a beta emitter that decays into the mercury isotope 198Hg. In this process the atomic number rises by one.
Read more about this topic: Neutron Capture
Famous quotes containing the words capture, small and/or flux:
“No place is so strongly fortified that money could not capture it.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)
“The sensitivity of men to small matters, and their indifference to great ones, indicates a strange inversion.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)
“Death not merely ends life, it also bestows upon it a silent completeness, snatched from the hazardous flux to which all things human are subject.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)