Question

Fission reactions can get out of control without what taking place?Select one of the options below as your answer:A. chain reaction B. critical mass C. neutron heating D. neutron moderation E. subcritical mass

Answer 1

Answer: Option (A) is the correct answer.

Explanation:

Nuclear chain reactions occur in fission reactions only. Nuclear fission reactions are defined as the reactions in which larger nuclide splits into two or more smaller daughter nuclides.

For example, $^{235}_{92}U + ^{1}_{0}n \rightarrow ^{90}_{36}Kr + ^{144}_{56}Ba + 3^{1}_{0}n$

These neutrons released will again bombard with the uranium atom leading to another fission reaction and this chain continues. And, if this chain gets disturbed by any external source then reaction becomes out of control as very high amount of energy releases in nuclear reactions.

Hence, in nuclear chain reactions the neutrons which are released in the previous fission reaction act as the starting material in the next reaction. Thus, this process continues to many reactions and hence, is known as nuclear chain reaction.

Thus, we can conclude that fission reactions can get out of control without chain reaction taking place.

Answer 2

Fission reactions can get out of control without neutron moderation. The correct option among all the options that are given in the question is the fourth option or option "D". The other options in this question can be discarded. I hope that this is the answer that you were looking for and it has come to your help.