Nuclear chain reaction

A nuclear chain reaction occurs when one single nuclear reaction causes an average of one or more subsequent nuclear reactions, thus leading to the possibility of a self-propagating series of these reactions. The specific nuclear reaction may be the fission of heavy isotopes (e.g., ²³⁵U). The nuclear chain reaction releases several million times more energy per reaction than any chemical reaction.

Chemical chain reactions were first proposed by German chemist Max Bodenstein in 1913, and were reasonably well understood before nuclear chain reactions were proposed. It was understood that chemical chain reactions were responsible for exponentially increasing rates in reactions, such as produced in chemical explosions.

The concept of a nuclear chain reaction was reportedly first hypothesized by Hungarian scientist Leó Szilárd on September 12, 1933. The neutron had been discovered in 1932, shortly before. Szilárd realized that if a nuclear reaction produced neutrons, which then caused further nuclear reactions, the process might be self-perpetuating. Szilárd, however, did not propose fission as the mechanism for his chain reaction, since the fission reaction was not yet discovered or even suspected. Instead, Szilárd proposed using mixtures of lighter known isotopes which produced neutrons in copious amounts. He filed a patent for his idea of a simple nuclear reactor the following year.

In 1936, Szilárd attempted to create a chain reaction using beryllium and indium, but was unsuccessful. After nuclear fission was discovered and proved by Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann in December 1938, Szilárd and Enrico Fermi in 1939 searched for, and discovered, neutron multiplication in uranium, proving that a nuclear chain reaction by this mechanism was indeed possible. This discovery prompted the letter from Szilárd and signed by Albert Einstein to President Franklin D. Roosevelt warning of the possibility that Nazi Germany might be attempting to build an atomic bomb.

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