7-11 July 2019
EV54 - PEP 3H: Neutrons: Discovery, Detection, Applications and Health Physics (Chapman)Lake Sheen B 14:00 - 16:00 |
| This session will present the interesting and somewhat contradictory circumstances that lead to the discovery of the neutron, in 1932, by James Chadwick. With its discovery, the physics community--- primarily lead by Fermi---studied the experimental behavior of neutron capture, and ultimately fission, induced by thermal neutron capture. Later, the determination of neutron multiplicity was sought, and with almost complete surprise the average number of neutrons per fission was measured at greater than 2, sufficient to sustain a neutron chain reactor. Applications of the neutron will be discussed, as well as some of the more interesting health physics issues that arise in the detection and interpretation of dose resulting from neutron exposure. |
