Kinetic Energy of Neutrons by MagikUnicorn

Bryce • Science/Medical • posted on Aug 23, 2019

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Description

Seriously: any free neutron is going to have kinetic energy left over from the process that freed it from a nucleus. And it will lose it slowly with collisions, you can get get "ultra cold" neutrons which (in aggregate) have kinetic energy so low, the temperature is below 1 degree Kelvin, but they still have some kinetic energy. And at such low temperatures, they are more likely to be captured by a nucleus, in which case they will STILL have kinetic energy, as if "bouncing around" inside the nucleus. Nuclei are not static the way you see them in grade school diagrams. They are more like little seething cauldrons of activity.