How fast does a 2 MeV fission neutron travel through a reactor core?

Question

asked May 4, 2020 149k views

1 Answer

Ryan Dunphy · Answer 1 · 2020-05-10T05:26:48+0000

Answer:

The answer is
$1.956 * 10^7\ m/s$

Step-by-step explanation:

The amount of energy is not enough to apply the relativistic formula of energy
E = mc^2 , so the definition of energy in this case is

E = (1)/(2)m v^2 .

From the last equation,

v= √(2E/m)

where

E = 2 MeV = 3.204 * 10^(-13) J

and the mass of the neutron is

$m = 1.675* 10^(-27)\ Kg$ .

Then

$v = 1.956 * 10^7\ m/s$

the equivalent of
0.065 the speed of light.