#kyyq

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Followers

The number of followers I have on here has hit three figures - the lowest one, ahem. Thanks for following :)

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Nuclear Fission and Reactors

A nucleus may become unstable for several reasons such as when they are big and contain too many nucleons. The Pauli Exclusion principle states that no two particles are allowed to exist in the same quantum state and with heavy nuclei being more dense, nucleons are being squashed into a smaller area, making the principle more likely to be violated. To become more stable, the nucleus has to get smaller. It does this via a fission reaction. The nucleus breaks into smaller fragments, increasing its binding energy and thus stabilising it. Fission can spontaneously occur in heavier nuclei with roughly 250-300 nucleons. Fission reactions can also be induced by disturbing a nucleus inside the particle by firing an energetic neutron inside of it. The neutron’s energy must be great enough to push past the barrier of the nucleus and disrupt it so that it ejects out mass. These reactions also release neutrons which can be of two types : prompt neutrons or delayed neutrons.

Delayed neutrons are released later than the reaction products and are the ones responsible for controlling nuclear reactors. These neutrons go on to disturb more nuclei which then go off breaking apart, producing a chain reaction. This is what happens in reactors.

These reactions must be controlled as a production of too many neutrons will make the chain reaction uncontrollable and it then becomes a high risk. Rods of material such as Cadmium or Boron are inserted into the reactors as they readily absorb neutrons.A balance between the production and absorption of neutrons must be correct to sustain effective energy production at safe levels.

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The Catcher in the Rye

I finished it today during labs because it was taking ages to collect data on the computer. I thought it was reallllyyyy good at describing alienation, loneliness, teenage angst and maturing and everything but maybe not as good as everyone goes on about, I probably read it too fast. At times, the language was a bit repetitive and Holden could get a little annoying. It is damn quotable though.

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A p-brane is something to do with space, maths and dimensions (and some clever word play haha!). It is used in M-theory, string theory and cosmology. I first came across it in a cosmology documentary, where there was a theory proposed that when two parallel branes collided a universe was produced! How would you even get to test that experimentally?

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The problem with glasses is that when you lose them you need them to find them in the first place. D'OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!!! Need that laser eye surgery.

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Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes are one of the things that if all were wiped from this Earth, I wouldn’t care, in fact I’d be glad. Do they do anything good anyway? Why do they always bite me?!

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I bought this on a whim in HMV for £3 about 3 years ago I think. I'm now a massive fan of William Burroughs and his nightmare books and everything else about him. Give it a go. That red thing in the corner are my headphones if you were wondering.