If you’re adding a proton wouldn’t it be fusion? Which also releases a bucket load of energy.
Comment on Positivity 😇
zxqwas@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Can you cause fission with protons instead of neutrons?
Egonallanon@feddit.uk 1 month ago
SmoothOperator@lemmy.world 1 month ago
zxqwas@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Possibly but the common fusions are using isotopes of H, He, Li with some amount of neutrons, not naked protons.
Heavier elements as the big blob is releases a lot less energy, and the really heavy ones are not exothermic.
Digit@lemmy.wtf 1 month ago
Maybe need an accompanying alternative version of the cartoon, “be more neutral”.
gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 1 month ago
yeah, i think it’s possible to split U-238 with fast protons. but the reproduction factor (how many new particles are emitted for every particle that you used to start the reaction) is smaller than 1, so it can’t explode that way.
gnutrino@programming.dev 1 month ago
Yes if they have enough energy (see for example www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-74045-5). What you won’t get with proton-induced fission is an explosion as the fission doesn’t emit protons which can go on to cause further fissions so there’s no chain reaction (unless you already have a critical mass for normal neutron-induced fission in which case it’s going to explode even without the protons).