Canadian nuclear reactors use heavy watermoderators in which elastic collisions occur between the neutrons and deuterons of mass2.0 u.
Part A) What is the speed of a neutron, expressed as a fraction of its original speed, after a head-on, elastic collision with a deuteron which is initially at rest?
Part B) What is its kinetic energy, expressed as a fraction of its original kinetic energy?
Part C) How many such successive collisions will reduce the speed of a neutron to 1/1.77×105 of its original value?