The Neutron
In Our Time: Science
00:00
The Role of Neutrons in the Nuclear Reactor
Nuclear reactors became more common and they provided very intense sources of neutrons. They have a number of particularly useful problems, but probably key is that when you look at particles at very small length scales, they also can be viewed as having wave-like properties. The wave length associated with the neutron at these sorts of energy is about the same as the spacing between atoms in crystals. So if you direct these beams of neutrons, neutron beams at crystalline materials, the way they're scattered tells you about the atomic structure of materials.
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