Required Essay 2 Version 1 (RE2v1)

Write a two-page essay that adresses the following three questions:

1. What is the definition of a fissionable nuclide? A fissile nuclide? A fertile nuclide? In your explanation, list an example of a fissile nuclide, an example of a fissionable nuclide that is not fissile, and an example of a fertile nuclide.
2. What is the definition of a nuclear-explosive nuclide? Of a nuclear-explosive material? Are all fissile nuclides nuclear-explosive nuclides? Explain why some nuclides that are not fissile are nevertheless nuclear-explosive. In your explanation, list an example of an important nuclear-explosive nuclide that is not fissile.
3. Explain in one or two paragraphs the basic, general requirements for achieving a nuclear explosion using nuclear explosive material. Do not go into any of the details of particular weapon designs.

Base your essay on the information in the assigned reading "Physics and Technology of Nuclear-Explosive Materials" and the current (Spring 2013) class slides on Nuclear Weapons.

Your essay should be at least 1.5 pages in length but must not be longer than 2 pages, when printed in the format specified in the Student Handbook, including the title, headers, and footers. To check this, you should print the exact version you are going to submit. If your paper is longer than 2 pages when printed, the score it would have received will be marked down heavily.

The Student Handbook provides complete guidance for preparing and submitting writing assignments. Before you turn in your essay, be sure to review the writing assignment submission checklist in the Handbook.

Audience:

In writing your essay, assume that your audience is a student in Physics 280 who is familiar with the material that has been presented in the lecture-discussions and the material in the readings that have already been assigned, but be sure to define all the terms you are asked to define in the prompt above. You do not need to place these definitions in quotes, but you do need to provide citations for them.

Citation of sources:

You do not need to give citations when the information you use is common knowledge. In deciding what is common knowledge, consider what is known by a typical University of Illinois student who is not a student in Physics 280. If in doubt, include a citation.

As the sources you are to use in preparing this essay are clearly specified, there should be no doubt about what sources are being used for this assignment. Nevertheless, for practice we require explicit citations of all sources used for any definitions in the Required Essays.

To save space in the Required Essays, which are only a few pages long, we recommend referring to Physics 280 class slides using the style [13p280 Weapons, slide 15] and to pages in "Physics and Technology of Nuclear-Explosive Materials" using the style [NEM, page 3]. (More complete citations will be required in the Research Paper for sources other than Physics 280 slides.)

Do not include a bibliography or a list of references.

• Begin each paragraph with a strong topic sentence.
• Omit any information that is not essential.
• Your answer to the third question should occupy about half of your essay.
• If you are uncertain about any of the example nuclides you are asked to give, make an educated guess.
• Avoid repetition — just say what you want to say, once!