Chart of Nuclides introduction

Introduces the interactive cart of nuclides from the Brookhaven National Laboratory: http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/chart/. Shows how the chart is constructed, that it displays all known isotopes of each element, and it can be color coded to display decay half-lives. This video is a prelude to discussing the nuclear physics of the problems at the Fukushima nuclear reactor in Japan, which appears in the next video. Recorded by Shaun Dychko and produced by the University of British Columbia Physics and Astronomy Department. Visit http://c21.phas.ubc.ca/article/why-cant-you-just-turn-nuclear-reactor for more information.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• physics
• nuclear
• fukushima
• nuclides
• half-life
• educational

[outreachc21]

DrTodd13 wrote a comment on the previous version of this video:

Isn't U238 fissile for neutrons that are energetic enough? If I recall, the bomb casings of hydrogen bombs were made partly of U238 which would fission when hit by neutrons produced by the fusion secondary of a hydrogen bomb.

[AnotherGlenn]

@outreachc21 I have read the same thing.

[xEventHorizon]

YAY MR DYCHKO WOOOOO

[jeebug]

Using ratios of the radionuclides Xenon 133 and Xenon 133m scientists demonstrated that the Chernobyl explosion was a fission criticality explosion and not principally a hydrogen explosion as has been claimed. Also this is the test done to determine if countries are testing nuclear bombs. And I had a question... "What about the neutron beams seen at the Fukushima plant?"

[cewaltham]

Yes, the fission threshold for uranium 238 is about 1 MeV. There is no fission threshold for uranium 235; thermal (0.025 eV) or even slower neutrons will split a uranium 235 nucleus.