--%>
Assignment Help - homework help

Why is heavy water employed as a moderator

Describe why is heavy water employed as a moderator? Illustrate.

E

Expert

Verified

Heavy water is highly enriched in the hydrogen isotope deuterium. We can evaluate the neutron interactions with billiard ball collision, where the neutron collides with nucleus of other atoms and lose energy. When the colliding nucleus size is small such as hydrogen nucleus it will lose the maximum energy. When nucleus is heavy, then the neutron hits the nucleus just alters its direction however not that much change in the energy of neutron. Therefore we use heavy water as moderator to slow down the neutrons.

   Related Questions in Physics

  • Q : Bragg's law Bragg's law - Whenever a

    Bragg's law - Whenever a beam of x-rays strikes a crystal surface in which the layers of ions or atoms are often separated, the maximum intensity of the reflected ray takes place when the complement of the angle of incidence, theta (θ), the wave

    		•
  • Q : What is Arago spot What is  Arago

    What is Arago spot? The bright spot which appears in the shadow of a consistent disc being backlit by monochromatic light originating from a point source. &n

    		•
  • Q : Define Metre or SI unit of length Metre

    Metre: meter; m: The basic SI unit of length, stated as the length of the path traveled by light in vacuum throughout a period of 1/299 792 458 s.

    		•
  • Q : Explain Stefan-Boltzmann law

    Stefan-Boltzmann law (Stefan, L. Boltzmann): The radiated power P (that is the rate of emission of electromagnetic energy) of a hot body is proportional to the radiating surface area, A, and the 4th power of the thermodynamic temperature, T. The const

    		•
  • Q : What is Eotvos law of capillarity

    Eotvos law of capillarity (Baron L. von Eotvos; c. 1870): The surface tension gamma of a liquid is associated to its temperature T, the liquid's critical temperature, T*, and its density rho by: gamma ~=

    		•
  • Q : Negative mass defect State is it

    State is it possible that the nucleus consists of negative mass defect?

    		•
  • Q : Define Second or SI unit of time

    Second: s: The basic SI unit of time, stated as the period of time equivalent to the duration of 9 192 631 770 periods of the radiation analogous to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of cesium-133 atom.

    		•
  • Q : Explain Archimedes' principle What is 

    What is Archimedes' principle? A body which is submerged in a fluid is buoyed up by a force equivalent in magnitude to the weight of the fluid which is displaced, and directed upward all along a line via the c

    		•
  • Q : What is Bode's law Bode's law :

    Bode's law: Titius-Bode law - The mathematical formula that generates, with a fair quantity of accuracy, the semi major axes of the planets in out of order from the Sun. Write down the progression 0, 3, 6, 12, 24,

    		•
  • Q : Brief note on the classification of

    Write down a brief note on the classification of Alloys?

    		•