Quick question (1 Viewer)

[Pinkled]

'Suggest a possible reason why passing the neutrons through a material rich in hydrogen could act to slow down the neutrons and increase their chance of being captured.'
I'm not really sure of this question, I'm assuming it has something to do with Chadwick's experiment because he used paraffin wax? (not sure)
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Fizzy_Cyst]

I don't see how this is really part of the syllabus (unless you are up to the last part of Q2Q already!), but it relates to elastic collisions and the greatest transfer of energy being between particles of similar mass. Seeing as Hydrogen nucleus is simply a proton and it is very similar in mass to a neutron, there will be a large transfer of energy from neutron --> Hydrogen which will cause the neutron to slow down.