Question

Making use of the tables of atomic masses, find the velocity with which the products of the reaction B¹⁰ (n, α) Li⁷ come apart; the reaction proceeds via interaction of very slow neutrons with stationary boron nuclei.

Answer 1

The reaction is B¹⁰ (n, α) Li⁷ . The energy of the reaction is

Since the incident neutron is very slow and B¹⁰ is stationary, the final total momentum must also be zero. So the reaction products must emerge in opposite directions. If their speeds are, respectively, v_α and v_Li