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Title: Spontaneous Fission

Abstract

The first attempt to discover spontaneous fission in uranium was made by Libby, who, however, failed to detect it on account of the smallness of effect. In 1940, Petrzhak and Flerov, using more sensitive methods, discovered spontaneous fission in uranium and gave some rough estimates of the spontaneous fission decay constant of this substance. Subsequently, extensive experimental work on the subject has been performed by several investigators and will be quoted in the various sections. Bohr and Wheeler have given a theory of the effect based on the usual ideas of penetration of potential barriers. On this project spontaneous fission has been studied for the past several years in an effort to obtain a complete picture of the phenomenon. For this purpose the spontaneous fission decay constants {lambda} have been measured for separated isotopes of the heavy elements wherever possible. Moreover, the number {nu} of neutrons emitted per fission has been measured wherever feasible, and other characteristics of the spontaneous fission process have been studied. This report summarizes the spontaneous fission work done at Los Alamos up to January 1, 1945. A chronological record of the work is contained in the Los Alamos monthly reports.

Authors:
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
910247
Report Number(s):
UCRL-1021
TRN: US200723%%588
DOE Contract Number:  
DE-AC02-05CH11231
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS; DECAY; FISSION; NEUTRONS; POTENTIALS; SPONTANEOUS FISSION; URANIUM

Citation Formats

Segre, Emilio. Spontaneous Fission. United States: N. p., 1950. Web. doi:10.2172/910247.
Segre, Emilio. Spontaneous Fission. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/910247
Segre, Emilio. 1950. "Spontaneous Fission". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/910247. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/910247.
@article{osti_910247,
title = {Spontaneous Fission},
author = {Segre, Emilio},
abstractNote = {The first attempt to discover spontaneous fission in uranium was made by Libby, who, however, failed to detect it on account of the smallness of effect. In 1940, Petrzhak and Flerov, using more sensitive methods, discovered spontaneous fission in uranium and gave some rough estimates of the spontaneous fission decay constant of this substance. Subsequently, extensive experimental work on the subject has been performed by several investigators and will be quoted in the various sections. Bohr and Wheeler have given a theory of the effect based on the usual ideas of penetration of potential barriers. On this project spontaneous fission has been studied for the past several years in an effort to obtain a complete picture of the phenomenon. For this purpose the spontaneous fission decay constants {lambda} have been measured for separated isotopes of the heavy elements wherever possible. Moreover, the number {nu} of neutrons emitted per fission has been measured wherever feasible, and other characteristics of the spontaneous fission process have been studied. This report summarizes the spontaneous fission work done at Los Alamos up to January 1, 1945. A chronological record of the work is contained in the Los Alamos monthly reports.},
doi = {10.2172/910247},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/910247}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Nov 22 00:00:00 EST 1950},
month = {Wed Nov 22 00:00:00 EST 1950}
}