Difference between revisions of "Nucleus Recoil-Energy in Neutron Capture Reactions"
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<math>E_{K,R}=\frac{\overrightarrow{P}^2_R}{2(A+1)} | <math>E_{K,R}=\frac{\overrightarrow{P}^2_R}{2(A+1)} | ||
− | = \frac{\overrightarrow{P}^2_\gamma c^2}{2(A+1) c^2}</math> | + | = \frac{\overrightarrow{P}^2_\gamma c^2}{2(A+1) c^2} |
+ | = \frac{E^2_\gamma (MeV)}{2(A+1) 931.5 MeV}</math> |
Revision as of 14:35, 14 November 2012
A nucleus which captures a thermal neutron must, since the momentum is conserved, receive a recoil energy. Immediately after capturing a neutron, the nucleus will emit γ quantas to get rid of the excess energy liberated when the neutron is bound to the nucleus. This also result in a certain amount of recoil energy on the nucleus.
Recoil energy from n-capture
The conservation of momentum demands that
where P denotes the momentum, index n denots the neutron, index T the target nucleus, and index R the recoil.
The general relationship between kinetic energy, EK, and momentum p is given by:
The mass of the neutron is 1 (atomic mass unit). the mass of the target nucleus is A. The new nucleus will therefore have mass A+1. Then
(remember that the momemtun of the target nucleus initially is 0.)
Recoil energy from γ emission
For emission of the mass-less quantas we have the following relationship:
and
In this case the nucleus has mass A+1, then