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Chemistry  /  Chem 2541  ·  Atom · ~20 seconds

Chain Reaction as a Self-Sustaining Threshold

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A fission chain reaction becomes self-sustaining once neutrons produced per fission equal or exceed those absorbed plus lost.

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Too little fissionable material lets neutrons escape before causing further fission, so the reaction dies out.

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Assuming any amount of fissionable material sustains a chain reaction ignores that criticality is a threshold set by amount, geometry, and neutron loss.