A pedagogical derivation of critical radius for a fissile sphere equates average neutron path length to the distance needed for neutron balance, agreeing with known masses at the few-percent level.
Nsℓs “ ℓspR2{ℓ2 sq “ R2{ℓs “ nσtrR2, (13) where ℓs is again the mean free path for scattering. The number of neutrons N produced per neutron is then N “ ˆ σf σ0 ν ´ 1 ˙
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An elementary method to determine the critical mass of a sphere of fissile material based on a separation of neutron transport and nuclear reaction processes
A pedagogical derivation of critical radius for a fissile sphere equates average neutron path length to the distance needed for neutron balance, agreeing with known masses at the few-percent level.